Inhofe decries military budget cuts

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Related Story: GOP backtracks on defense cuts in debt deal

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Sequestration is the process by which automatic appropriation cuts go into effect if Congress cannot reach a budget agreement. Under current law, sequestration will reduce current spending levels by $109 billion on Jan. 2 unless Congress reaches agreement for $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years.

Half the reduction must come from military spending and half from nonmilitary spending.

Inhofe, Sullivan and other Republicans say this unfairly - and unwisely - targets the military and will result in as many as 1 million lost jobs.

"I don't think President Obama fully understands the impact these devastating defense cuts will have on our military capabilities or our economy," Sullivan said after the House voted 414-2 to require the Obama administration to produce within 90 days an explanation of how it plans to carry out sequestration.

Inhofe, speaking on the Senate floor during discussion of sequestration, said the process is part of the Obama administration's overall strategy to degrade the U.S. military.

He said Obama's budget projections call for $500 billion in cuts to the Defense Department over the next decade in addition to the $500 billion due under sequestration.

"Let's not forget how we got into this mess in the first place," Inhofe said. "We have a president who has added $1 trillion to our debt each year. And our least properly funded area is the military."

Inhofe encouraged defense contractors to issue layoff notices immediately in order to get the attention of their employees and their communities, even if the layoffs wouldn't occur until next year if at all.

Democrats say they, too, don't want sequestration and that Republicans wanted the deep defense cuts in the sequestration agreement to use as leverage. Democrats, though, are also using them as leverage to get Republicans to accept expiration of tax cuts for high-income Americans.

Obama, said Sullivan, "is playing a dangerous game of political chicken at the expense of our national and economic security."

Original Print Headline: Inhofe, Sullivan decry cuts

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Randy Krehbiel 918-581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20120719_16_A9_USSenJ793689&rss_lnk=16

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