From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Is big money making America safer?

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues. Americans care about most.

Congress is about to

pass a defense bill worth $500 billion, more military spending than the rest of the world combined.

In a post-9-11 election year, with wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, no politician in either

party wants to be labeled anti-defense. On to the point, the Pentagon has admitted it can't keep track of all of that money.

So who knows if bigger spending really means greater protection?

Are threats to America changing faster than the military can get ready to meet them?

Does Congress focus on oversight or pet projects?

On reporter's notebook later on, Walt Disney, ABC Television,

and the politics of September 11th.

First, the news.

Support for To the Point

comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation

and the John D. and Catherine

T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again. Warren. I'll only back with To the Point. If Congress

does nothing else between now and Election Day, it will pass another record defense spending

bill, even though the Pentagon says it can't keep track of the money. On To the Point,

...