Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Are Congressional Republicans About To Permit Sequestration And Massive Cuts In The U.S. Military?

House GOP Thinks Unthinkable On Defense Cuts -- Politico

The Republican mantra for decades has been: cut NPR, EPA and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Now add the Pentagon to the list.

In the modern history of the Republican Party, it would have been unthinkable. The GOP is built on two core tenets — small government and big defense spending — and for decades, the two ideas co-existed peacefully. Republicans wanted to cut the federal budget — everywhere except the Pentagon. No more.

The reason: A new breed of conservatives in the House cares so much about cutting spending they’re willing to extend that to the budget for bullets and bombs, too — in this case, by letting $500 billion in across-the-board automatic budget cuts over 10 years take effect, alongside a similar number for domestic agencies.

Read more ....

More News On Sequestration And It's Impact On The U.S. Military

Obama Wants Another Sequestration Delay as GOP Slams His Approach -- Defense News
Obama Calls on Congress to Avoid Sequestration -- US Department of Defense
Obama Asks Hill to Extend Sequestration Deadline -- Military.com
Tom Cole: GOP Prefers Deep Defense Cuts To Any Revenue -- TPM
Defense Contractors Fret as Sequester Cuts Approach
-- Real Clear Politics
Defense Industry Braces for Sequester While Publicly Urging Alternatives to Cuts -- Roll Call
How Will the Sequester Hit Defense Stocks? -- The Motley Fool

My Comment: The US Senate has not passed a budget in almost 4 years. The White House is not interested in cutting programs. The House of Representatives is done with trying to structure a deal. Yup .... with such a track record I doubt that with 3½ weeks left to restructure $1.2 trillion in broad cuts to defense and discretionary domestic spending it is going to happen. As I have mentioned in previous posts .... I expect another delay but there are now some within the Republican Party who are advocating for sequestration to occur as the only alternative to get America's fiscal house in order .... my prediction .... with each delay their voices are going to get louder.

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