Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts says something feels different in the latest debt limit showdown.

“In my conversations with members of Congress in recent weeks, conservatives repeatedly mentioned their willingness to tackle the thorny challenge of military spending reforms, in addition to the out-of-control non-defense spending conservatives typically confront,” Roberts wrote recently in The American Conservative. “This boldness is a refreshing change from the Washington status quo.”

The Heritage Foundation has traditionally been supportive of a robust defense budget. Now, Roberts says, Congress should consider a “Moneyball” approach to defense spending, which may even include closing bases.

“The Pentagon has been telling Congress it has too many bases and facilities for years now,” Roberts wrote. “It is time for Congress to authorize a new round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), which overcomes parochial interests to close down unneeded bases in a fair and strategic manner, and to apply the same philosophy to the rest of the budget, regardless of how much defense contractors protest.”

Heritage Foundation photo by Willis Bretz