GOP Tax Saint Norquist Takes On Defense Spending; DoD Dough Does Not Create Jobs
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UPDATED: Deleted Comment We Wrongly Attributed to Norquist That Came From Cato Website. WASHINGTON: That anguished sound you hear is the gnashing of teeth and grumbling among defense Republicans in reaction to comments today about the defense budget by Grover Norquist, he of the unbreakable pledge signed by most Republicans to never raise taxes. “Conservatives… Keep reading →
Air Force Cuts Mean Service Is ‘Slowly Going Out of Business’
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A year has passed since Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act-the legislation mandating sequestration. Funding cuts that once seemed politically remote now loom large for leaders increasingly anxious about the impact $1.2 trillion in automatic budget reductions will have upon their respective districts and states. An estimated two million… Keep reading →
Why We Should Cut Tri-Nation Anti-Missile Program, MEADS
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Anyone who has served in the military knows there is plenty of fat to be cut in the Pentagon budget. But rather than take a “meat ax” to the budget — as Defense Secretary Panetta famously described sequestration — there are more targeted ways to reduce and reform defense spending. Whether it’s procedural inefficiencies, duplicative… Keep reading →
Lockheed CEO Draws Grim View Of Sequestration Effects; Can’t Tell Workers Jobs Will Survive
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WASHINGTON: When Bob Stevens, CEO of Lockheed Martin, delivered his now annual speech before the Farnborough or Paris air show, he didn’t talk much about international sales or the Joint Strike Fighter or the military threats America faces. Instead, Stevens talked mostly about the mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration and the “fog of uncertainty”… Keep reading →
Former CNO, DepSecDef Fight To Stop Cuts To Navy’s Humanitarian Mission
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WASHINGTON: Disaster relief, medical assistance, and other humanitarian missions can provide a low-cost way for the military to build US influence in Asia and elsewhere, a key part of the administration’s new national security strategy, but this “soft power” approach is complicated both by civilian aid groups’ suspicion of the military and by looming budget… Keep reading →
Dem Establishment Slams House NDAA
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WASHINGTON:A quick look at what the Democratic national security establishment thinks about the National Defense Authorization Act now moving through the House. Here’s what the progressive National Security Network (whose board includes Wes Clark and Samuel Burger, among others) says in a posting about the bill: The House version of the NDAA breaks last summer’s… Keep reading →
Pentagon Not Planning For Sequestration; Hill Could Pass Admin Budget And Avoid Cuts
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NO Pgon sequestration planning, sez spokes. WH "proposes over $4T in balanced deficit reduction" which Hill could adopt to avoid cuts. @colinclarkaol
Boeing CEO Warns Congress, WH On Sequestration: Job Cuts Coming
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WASHINGTON: While much of the defense press was focused yesterday on the HASC markup and the SASC hearing about the F-35, my colleague at DoDBuzz spotted a good story about sequestration. Here’s the core of Phil Ewing’s story: Boeing CEO Jim McNerney warned Tuesday that the threat of next year’s automatic, across-the-board budget growth reductions… Keep reading →
Sequestration Is More Likely Than You Think
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Sequestration: it’s a term only Washington could love. Behind the bland euphemism lie dramatic cuts to the U.S. military, shipbuilding and aerospace manufacturing jobs, and in communities across America. Washington politicians insist a half trillion in defense cuts — and the attendant degradation to our national security — is a reasoned belt tightening. In reality,… Keep reading →
DoD Sequestration Looms And Few Plans Are Afoot To Avert Or Cope
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WASHINGTON: It may be because Congress is out of town. Or it may be that few in the defense enterprise have any answers to the looming automatic cuts of $500 billion that will come due on Jan. 3, 2013. I vote for the latter. But whatever the reasons, a panel of éminences grises sat down… Keep reading →