Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said today that congressional negotiators are trying to break an impasse to stop massive defense sequestration cuts from going into effect five months from now, but chided President Obama for not helping in the urgent talks.
The looming cuts, the senator said at the Bloomberg Government Defense Conference, are “so devastating that the secretary of defense will not even contemplate the plans that are necessary to implement sequestration.”
“The president has to lead on a lot of things, in my view, and I would like to see him maybe call — at least call Boehner and McConnell and maybe others over to the White House and say, ‘Is there any common ground we have here?’ So far, that hasn’t happened,” McCain said, adding that that administration’s response was “irresponsible, but predictable.”
Some have estimated up to a million job losses in the defense industry should the sequestration — $492 billion in cuts on top of the $487 billion already being implemented — go forward.
“The world is rapidly changing and the world requires American leadership, which unfortunately in these days, particularly as far as Syria is concerned, is MIA,” McCain said.
On the subject of Syria, the senator said Obama made an “idiotic statement” in support of the Kofi Annan plan.
“The Kofi Annan plan failed weeks ago and was never going to have any chance of success. So, here we are, standing by, watching a massacre go on,” McCain said. “…I tell you, I’ve seen a lot in my life. But for the United States to stand by and the president of the United States not to say a word on behalf of these people is shameful.”
“Presidents lead,” the senator added. “Presidents lead.”
That’s assuming Dear Liar has America’s best interests at heart. It’s clear he doesn’t. Massive defense cuts are a feature for him, not a bug.
I don’t understand the problem here, Juan didn’t you vote for the compromise that will lead to these defense cuts? Or was it just a sham that you voted knowing full well that if it came to it you and your fellow RINO’s would just repeal those cuts to save the world?
You voted for the cuts, you failed to negotiate a reasonable budget, now let them take effect before we go completely go bankrupt. It’s time the world started taking care of it’s own problems. If the Syrians, Yemenis, Afghanis, Pakis, Egyptians etc etc want to kill each other, let them. We can no longer afford to be everyone’s savior.
Bring our troops home and let the cuts go into effect.
What’s the “pay-go” for repealing these cuts? Higher taxes? Cuts to the welfare state? Or is Barack not running up the deficit fast enough for McCain?
This is the same guy, who, as a candidate back in 2008, practically endorsed Obama. Making me wonder – why in the hell were you running for President in the first place, if your opponent was so well suited to the job? Why didn’t you get the hell out of the way and let someone who at least wanted to win have a shot? And now he’s surprised that Obama is feckless? Man without feck meets feckless.
I’m embarrassed to say I voted for this man.
“Why didn’t you get the hell out of the way and let someone who at least wanted to win have a shot? ”
Uhh, isn’t that what he did? Oh, you meant a Republican that wanted to win, sorry.