With the national debt hitting $40 trillion, pressure is building for the federal government to identify spending cuts.
asserted
government → hit → cuts
In the coming weeks, we can expect to hear familiar refrains:
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we → come → refrains
Republicans need to agree to slash defense and farm-country spending; Democrats need to agree to slash government-funded healthcare and welfare spending.
asserted
Democrats → need → spending
Knowing Washington, it’s unlikely either party will agree to big cuts.
asserted
party → know → cuts
So the best hope of budget restraint will be trimming here and there that cumulatively add up to something significant.
asserted
that → trim → something
Buried in the House-passed defense authorization bill is a smart and fairly simple idea that could help: give the military the tools needed to test more ways to help service members quit smoking.
uncertain
members → bury → smoking
Section 707 of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act would allow the war secretary to establish a one-year pilot program for active-duty service members who smoke at least one combustible tobacco product per week.
asserted
who → allow → week
Participants could choose among counseling, nicotine gum, nicotine patches, electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and heat-not-burn products.
uncertain
Participants → choose → counseling
The secretary “may” establish the program.
uncertain
secretary → establish → program
Congress isn’t ordering the Pentagon to hand out vapes or nicotine pouches.
asserted
Congress → order → vapes
It’s giving the Department of War the authority to test them alongside existing cessation tools and report back on what works.
asserted
what → give → tools
This could have important financial upsides.
uncertain
This → have → upsides
In a 2015 congressional hearing, Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, then-surgeon general of the Army, testified that the War Department could be sustaining $4.5 billion or more in preventable healthcare costs as a result of smoking.
uncertain
Department → testify → smoking
That’s about 0.5% of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2026 budget request, so it’s not chump change.
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it → ’ → request
It’s also money being spent to treat avoidable human suffering sustained by America’s heroes: mouth and lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, asthma, and chronic bronchitis.
asserted
It → ’ → heroes
A Defense Health Agency analysis found that 18.4% of active-duty service members reported smoking cigarettes in the 2018 Health Related Behaviors Survey, compared with 13.7% of the general U.S. population.
asserted
% → find → population
Among those ages 17 to 24, 23.1% reported smoking cigarettes, compared with 7.8% of similarly aged civilians.
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% → report → civilians
That means our service members are at far greater risk than the rest of us from smoking-related illnesses.
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members → mean → illnesses
“The problem is quitting is hard,” Dr. Ray Niaura, a tobacco-control researcher at New York University, told me.
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Niaura → tell → me
“There’s no magic bullet, and we’re always looking for better ways to help people along.”
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we → ’ → people
Increasingly, the evidence shows some of those alternatives may work better.
uncertain
some → show → alternatives
An updated Cochrane review released this month examined 80 studies involving nearly 30,000 smokers.
asserted
review → update → smokers
Researchers found high-certainty evidence that nicotine e-cigarettes increased quit rates compared with traditional nicotine replacement therapy, including patches and gum — and by 59%, not some piddly percentage.
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cigarettes → find → %
Last year, Rutgers University found that nicotine pouches, a newer product that the Food and Drug Administration under Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump has found less harmful than smoking, help smokers quit.
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smokers → find → smoking
Studies at Yale and NYU have shown the same.
asserted
Studies → show → same
Dr. Brad Rodu, a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville who has studied tobacco harm reduction for decades, pointed me to the new Cochrane findings when I asked him about the Pentagon proposal.
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I → study → proposal
“The evidence keeps building for e-cigarettes,” Rodu said.
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Rodu → build → cigarettes
Niaura said, “Because pouches are fairly popular, it kind of makes sense to try them out and see what happens.”
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what → say → them
But the FDA says cigarettes are at the most harmful end of what the agency calls a continuum of risk because they burn tobacco.
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they → say → tobacco
Cigarette smoke exposes users to thousands of chemicals that cause the serious diseases associated with smoking.
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that → expose → smoking
Noncombustible products generally carry lower health risks.
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products → carry → risks
That doesn’t make e-cigarettes — or pouches — harmless.
asserted
cigarettes → make → ?
But Section 707 is aimed specifically at active-duty service members who already smoke.
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who → aim → members
Rodu describes the War Department’s historical approach to lower-risk tobacco and nicotine products as “prohibition-oriented” and has documented his attempts to challenge military messaging about their relative risks going back nearly a decade.
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Rodu → describe → risks
He calls the proposed pilot “a huge step in the right direction for DoD.”
asserted
He → call → DoD.
Unfortunately, Section 707 isn’t guaranteed to survive.
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Section → guarantee → ?
The House passed H.R. 8800 in July, but the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version contains no comparable provision.
asserted
version → pass → provision
The language will have to be in place before the Pentagon can begin testing.
asserted
Pentagon → have → place
With luck, the Senate will see reason here.
asserted
Senate → see → reason
America’s service members and our own public finances are counting on it.
asserted
members → count → it
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
