The Department of Defense revealed the lengths it would go to avoid a $500 billion budget cut, by threatening mass layoffs of military employees—timed just before the November elections—if Congress does not act.
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little, while on MSNBC's Jansing & Co, emphasized that the Defense Department was willing to cut its “fair share” to help wrangle in the nation's deficit, but that the additional $500 billion reduction would “seriously risk undermining” national security efforts.
“It would hollow out our force, it would harm our national security and our military, and it would break faith with the troops,” Little told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing. “That is something we simply cannot afford as a country.”
Top Pentagon officials this week have made their rounds in applying pressure on Congress to halt the cuts. Gen. Raymond Odierno, U.S. Army chief of staff, on Morning Joe Thursday emphasized that the sequestration tacks on to the already existing $487 billion cuts to defense spending over the next ten years.
The latest round of defense cuts are a result of a budget deal between Congress and President Obama last year that was designed to give lawmakers an incentive to reach a bipartisan consensus to tackle the nation's deficit. But without a compromise, across-the-board budget cuts to spending programs that are sacred cows for both parties will automatically kick in the start of next year.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, said the budget cuts were designed to be a “meat ax” and a “disaster.”
Little built on the defense secretary's words on Thursday, telling Jansing, "It’s a meat ax attached to a chain saw."
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It never bodes well when Defense spending is used as a political toy. From Congressmen's favorite political toy to win local jobs to this, on going, budget tom-foolery, it is irresponsible. Cuts are needed, but, some adults need to stand up and provide workable answers.
George made an excellent presentation, though, I would like to know what he really thought.
Well, when you consider that the middle class has been "hollowed out" for the last 30+ years to feed the military budget(read defense contractors)we already know what it feels and looks like. Also when you consider that the U.S. spends more than the entire industrialized world on defense, 500 billion more looks like a deal they better grab before it gets even worse. Besides, blackmail really isn't very becoming.
Well said. A trillion dollar cut to the Defense budget is totally reasonable over the next 10 years. We are talking about $100 billion dollars per year. As a tax payer I am tired of the extravagant and self indulging expenditures made by the Pentagon: planes and weapons that are dysfunctional or that have tripled in cost from contract signing to delivery or even harming our military personnel during use. In addition let us honestly admit whom this military budget supports. Global corporate profit interests. Both Iraq and Afghanistan are corporate profit interest wars. Haliburton corporation alone pocketed more then a trillion dollars in profit regularly double or triple charging our military.
The fear factor is always in play, serious cuts will hollow out our Defense. How about we discuss $79 BILLION for the YF-22 advanced fighter that has not flown 1 combat mission in both wars and now is grounded because of oxygen problems. How about the V22 that also is not combat capable. How about the ratio of officers to enlisted that is hardly the mark of a lean effective force structure. How about 700 Generals. How about layers upon layers of Hqs that is the mark of a bloated institution rather than an effective Defense Structure. The last thing anyone wants to do is create an effective Defense, its all about the status quo and jobs.
Good reminders. Eisenhower warned about the disastrous consequences to our country in letting this corporate military industrial complex grow unchecked. No adult is fool enough to believe the BS that both Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded for reasons of national security. Both countries were invaded for corporate profit and security interests. Afghan government change/invasion was discussed In Feb of 1998 in the House of Representatives and honchos of Unocal and Enron for their pipeline desire through Afghanistan. Let the corporations pay for their wars of choice. They have done nothing but betray our country to fatten their profit margin. We the taxpayers are already in hoc for more then 10 trillion from their two wars.
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa48119.000/hfa48119_0f.htm
The working taxpayers pay for their wars while corporation outsource jobs, profits and pay as little in taxes as they can get away with. They have been and continue to fleece the taxpayers of our country. Corporate tax contribution to Federal revenue is @9% while our government expends nearly 60% annually of the Federal budget to service corporate interests.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/background/numbers/revenue.cfm
Give SSI and Medicare to the military and wealthy - let the elderly die early, dead people don't need money - just the wealthy and the military. I'm 69 and ready to do my part dying so the SOB rich and military can live scrumptuously. The rich got rich from defense contracts. Pentagon needs to stop lying.
The American institution is not a sacred institution, it is a sacred cow. Pentagon needs to stop milking the American taxpayer.
The military squanders more money than any other government entity, in my opinion. When things get tight, you have to figure out if this or that is really necessary. That goes for you, me, everyone. And that includes the military. I mean, the U.S. has 12 super aircraft carriers. Does any other nation have more than one? When it gets down to it, it's amazing what you can do without.
He needs to be fired, NOW!
This is straight up fearmongering.