Too often, the Pentagon spending debate is ensnared in the outmoded ideology of past wars and driven by legions of lobbyists for parochial interests in the military-industrial complex.

“It’s not necessarily influence, but access. They will likely open the door to us,� Isaacs said of bundling. “It certainly doesn’t guarantee that they will vote the way we want them to vote.�

“I think the tide has kind of turned in some ways against defense thanks to the tea party. They’re so much against any kind of spending that they don’t exclude defense from that,” Isaacs said.

“To cement his legacy, he needs another nuclear reductions agreement,” said John Isaacs, executive director of the Council for a Livable World, a nonprofit advocacy group that seeks to eliminate nuclear weapons. “But if there’s no missile defense agreement, he can’t get one. It’s become the key to further progress.”