Sequestration Intervention? Report Does Little to Spur Action to Avert Cuts
The attacks on U.S. installations abroad and boiling tensions in the Muslim world handily overshadowed Friday’s release of President Obama’s past-due report to Congress on the devastating effects budget sequestration would have on America’s defense.
The automatic cuts including a $600 billion bite out of defense, triggered by the failure of the super committee to reach a deficit-reduction agreement, go into effect Jan. 3 unless action is taken to avert them.
Congress breaks for the campaign at the end of this week, leaving the lame-duck session as the last best hope to save military might and more than a million jobs that could be axed from small businesses to giant defense contractors.
In accordance with the Sequestration Transparency Act — though several days past the law’s deadline — President Obama submitted the 394-page report detailing where the cuts would be implemented to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Friday.
“The sequester was put into place as part of the Budget Control Act in order to compel Congress to do its job. The sequester was designed to be bad policy, to be onerous, to be objectionable to both Democrats and Republicans,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
“The whole point of it was to compel Congress to take action to further reduce our deficit, to find $1.2 trillion in additional cuts — cuts that should come in a balanced, thoughtful way through policy decisions and not in a kind of across-the-board draconian manner that is written into the sequester,” he added.
The administration and the president have consistently tied aversion of the sequester cuts to not extending the Bush-era tax cuts to upper income brackets, essentially holding defense hostage to drive through a long-stated “fair share” policy aim.
“These bipartisan automatic cuts were put in place to give both sides a strong incentive to make a deal, and they are not going to go away simply because nobody wants them to be enacted. They are going to have to be replaced, and that replacement is going to have to be balanced,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
“What Republicans aren’t saying when they are yelling and screaming about these cuts is that they helped pass them into law and that they can just as easily help make them go away,” she said. “But thus far they have been unwilling to face up to the reality that it will take a balanced approach to make that happen.”
In the report, the Office of Management and Budget implores Congress to work together to avoid the sequester.
“Sequestration would have a devastating impact on important defense and nondefense programs,” the report states. On the non-defense side, cuts would include Federal Aviation Administration thinning and “slashed” numbers of FBI and Border Patrol agents. The cuts would hit more than 1,200 budgets across the board. And, in a chilling reminder of last week’s tragedy, embassy security, construction, and maintenance would take an 8.2 percent hit as well as protection of foreign missions and officials.
After some opening summary pages, it lists hundreds of pages of programs and how much would be cut from each budget under sequestration.
“This report provides no direction as to how sequestration will be implemented if it were to occur; nor does it guarantee that our military will possess the equipment, personnel, and capability needed to keep America safe,” said Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.).
“The White House’s report on the impacts of the sequester is ugly, as it was supposed to be. The sequester was designed to be an awful solution to an urgent problem — the worst-case scenario for if Congress fails to act responsibly,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). “The White House has now painted a graphic picture of what that scenario will look like.”
“For 13 months, Congress has had the opportunity to take the steps necessary to prevent the sequester from kicking in, but has failed to do so,” he said. “It is my hope this report serves as a wake-up call.”
Other Democrats were more confident that Congress will reach for what it does best: 11th-hour nail-biting dealmaking to avert a fiscal freefall.
Democrats want to destroy the military for more social programs to get voters.
I’d like to destroy “our” military and get a new one. One commanded by generals loyal to America and our Constitution rather than being loyal to Islam and Muslims.
General Allen here all you disrespecters of the Great Religion of Peace. These fine well meaning upstanding Muslims were just stressed out from not being able to eat during the day during Ramadan.
Attention!!! General Petraeus here. I condemn the action of the individual in the United States who made a film disrespecting the Great Prophet Mohammad. That action was hateful. It was intolerant, and it was extremely disrespectful. I condemn the actions of a small number of individuals who have been extremely disrespectful to the Holy Qur’an. Together with our Muslim Partners in Peace, we must secure and serve the people of the Muslim world.
General Casey here! Stand at attention subjects! No mater how tragic the untimely death of a few Americans might be to some, abroad or at home, we must not let this affect the diversity of those who watch our embassies and our schools, as if we did, that would be a much greater tragedy.
General George S. Patton here. The building formally known as the Pentagon has become a G-d damned mega mosque whore house of servicing Muslims. The Perfumed Pimps there masquerading as Generals have no regard for America and it’s Constitution or their own troops and they are all out sons-of-bitches, traitors, and chronic dhimmis!
“The attacks on U.S. installations abroad and boiling tensions in the Muslim world handily overshadowed Friday’s release of President Obama’s past-due report to Congress on the devastating effects budget sequestration would have on America’s defense.’
America has no defense anymore. All our military does these days is support Islam.
We can’t keep spending so much money on everything. Including the military, which despite all this money we spend on it, is remarkably ineffective because of how we use it.
Conservatives need to grasp the concept that government spending is bad, even when it’s the military. It might be less of a waste than other things, but it’s still bad.
“Sequestration would have a devastating impact on important defense and nondefense programs,” the report states.
A devastating impact on what “important defense and nondefense programs”? The important ‘defense’ program of supplying the Afghan army and police with guns to shoot our troops in Afcrapistan with? And the important ‘defense’ program of training to make them able to aim at our troops better? The important ‘defense’ program of rebuilding Mosques in Afcrapistan? The important ‘defense’ program of passing out money to “tribal elders” to buy child brides and little boys with?
Give COIN just a few more decades of time
And the Afghan’s love for us and freedom will surely grow
Give COIN just a few more decades of time
And the Afghan’s love for us and freedom will surely grow
Ever leaving Afghanistan would be a big mistake
Let’s think of how wonderful Islam can be and hesitate
Almost broke and the troops as tired as they may be
But there’s no need for America to act in it’s own interest selfishly
If we part Afghanistan, General Petraeus won’t forget it
Years from now he’ll surely make us regret it
You don’t understand how wonderful Islam could be and you’re in a hurry
They’re not eager to reject Sharia but don’t you worry
COIN will win their hearts and minds and then they’ll want the American way of life
But these things don’t come overnight
Don’t give up ‘cos Afghan progress has been oh sooooooooo slow
We’re surly gonna win their Hearts and Minds if we just even more with bribing and bowing and scraping go
The U.S. Department of “Defense” has become one giant Whale of a Solyndra with the important distinction that Solyndra didn’t support the advancement of Islam.
That is a British soldier, i think, in the picture of your post about U.S defense cuts. It is definitely not an American soldier. Hate to nit-pick. I’m not a lib, but I just saw some posts making mention of the DNC using Russian navy and Turkish air force photos in their convention, and here you are using a British soldier while speaking of the U.S military. Just sayin’.
So there you have it. “Soccer-mom” Senator, Patty Murray (D WA), taking a nice, flat shovel smartly up the side of the head of the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill — i.e., Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell — for being so STUPID, and so FECKLESS as to to “make a deal” with the Democrats on raising the budget ceiling. We (the conservative base) demanded, and begged, that they not do so. But, AGAIN, to no avail. … The RNC knew better.
And so, I PRAY, that when the presidency and Senate are retaken in two months, that the GOP faithful rise up and DEMAND a change in leadership. Top Down. The bastards we have in there now have failed us time, and time, and time again. Either they are gutless; or they are cocktail-club-sycophants; or they are IN on the statist agenda to disempower The People.
If the Repubs had any brains they’ed respond to all the tax the rich stuff by proposing so targeted loophole closing. You know, the loopholes that benefit Dems and their interests.
I know, I know. There’s a condition.
Let’s review what our military has done for us the past decade.
1) Overthrew Saddam Hussein and his Sunni regime, enemies of Shiite Iran, and installed a Shiite regime, a natural ally for Iran. A regime that proceeded to ethnically cleanse 2/3 of Iraq’s Christian population. Kissed lots of Korans. Generals wanted to stay even longer. Cost – over a trillion dollars that we don’t have.
2) Trying to build an insane Bridge To Nowhere in Afcrapistan with their “Partners in Peace”, that is when their “Partners in Peace” are not too busy shooting them or raping little girls or little boys or goats. Kissed lots of Muslim ass. Generals wanted even more troops and want to stay indefinitely – till “The job is done”. Total Cluster Frack. Cost – probably approaching a trillion dollars that we don’t have.
3) Overthrew mostly secularist Gaddaffi, who had become harmless to America, and replaced him with full blown followers of Mohammad.
4) Indoctrinates American troops to respect Islam and as David Petraeus calls it, The Holy Qur’an.
5) Peddles to Americans that it’s only some “extremists” or “radicals” or “islamists” that are the problem and that the great majority of Muslims are our partners, thus blinds most Americans to Islam.
6) The very top military man harasses Americans who dare to exercise their Constitutional right to free speech.
Please stop. I don’t want to pay 800 billion a year for this kind of “defense”. I don’t want to pay 2 cents for this.
I’ll call it the “Holy Koran” when muslims call it the “Holy Bible,” not before.
From an old soldier, thanks for changing the picture.
Now it looks like a picture of RoboCop.
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