On a press conference call today, the Romney campaign previewed the governor’s speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention and hit hard at the president’s stance on spending. Last year Congress and President Obama struck a spending deal that could result in very significant cuts to the military. The Pentagon’s budget would be cut by 10%, a level that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has deemed would do “catastrophic damage” to our national security. Democrats have dug in to defend domestic spending and tax hikes on top earners. On the conference call, former Sen. Jim Talent noted that the cuts could impact one million jobs within the defense establishment. Romney foreign policy adviser Alex Wong said that the president is “Holding national security hostage to his domestic spending priorities.” Wong added that “Active duty troops will be laid off” if sequestration happens, which “will send our troops from the front lines to the unemployment lines.”
Though President Obama declared in his VFW convention speech that he has prioritized veterans “for the first time ever,” unemployment among young veterans remains more than a full percentage point above the non-veteran average.
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