Lawmakers Move To Prevent Automatic Defense Cuts

By Adrianna McGinley

Leaders on the House Armed Services Committee said they will look for ways to prevent automatic cuts to the nation’s defense budget from taking effect.

The Pentagon could lose roughly $600 billion over the next decade as a result of the congressional ‘super committee’s’ failure to pass a plan to reduce the deficit by $1.3 trillion.

In a statement released late Monday evening, Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said the cuts would cause “catastrophic damage” to national security. “I will not be the armed services chairman who presides over crippling our military,” he vowed. “I will not let these sequestration cuts stand.”

McKeon announced he will soon introduce legislation to stop the cuts from taking place, citing that nearly $500 billion has already been cut from the military budget and saying, “those who have given us so much, have nothing more to give.”

The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), also said that he was disappointed by the panel’s inability to reach a deal.

“Once again we’ve missed the chance to implement a comprehensive plan that balances revenue and spending reform and puts us on the path toward fixing our long-term fiscal and economic problems,” Smith said.

Smith warned that the cuts to defense would not be based on sound policy or strategic review and would, as a result, undermine national security.

“This is no way to defend our nation, and this is no way to run our government,” he said.

Their efforts, however, will be met by resistance from the administration.

“Already some in congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts,” President Obama said yesterday evening. “My message to them is simple; ‘no.’ I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts…there will be no easy off-ramps on this one.”

Cornyn: Defense Cuts Would Be 'Arbitrary And Reckless'

By Adrianna McGinley

At the Hudson Institute Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned that sequestration following a possible supercommittee failure would have a disastrous impact on national security.

“I worry that our strategic thinking is being driven by dollars and cents more than common sense,” Cornyn said. “If this process fails, and I hope and pray it does not, then … the base defense budget would be cut 14 percent in real terms over just three years.”

Cornyn cited that the sequestration cuts would be in addition to $489 billion in defense cuts under the Budget Control Act and roughly $180 billion of efficiency cuts recommended by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

“This should really be a time for rebuilding and retraining and not retreating,” Cornyn advised. “But retreat is the only way to describe what would happen if our military forces are required to live under this sequestration process.”

Cornyn said military leadership is trained not to panic, but “you can hear their frustration and you can hear grave concern in their voices that America’s strategic commitments are being defined not by the requirements but by budgets. They’re frustrated that under the sequestration process the cuts would be arbitrary and reckless.”

The Senator said however that concerns over how the Pentagon spends money should not be disregarded. Rather waste, fraud, and abuse should be aggressively fought. He specifically alluded to financial mismanagement at the Department of Defense citing that it has not been able to produce an “auditable financial statement,” and although the department is not required to do so until 2017, he said it was “shocking” that it could not do so now.

Cornyn joked that the twelve members of the “Super Committee” have more power than any group of Americans since those who wrote the constitution and said they must make use of that power.

“Failure really should not be an option,” Cornyn said. “What would it say to not only the American people…what would it say to the markets, what would it say to the world about America’s seriousness of dealing with these problems?”

China Currency Bill Invades Armed Services Committee Hearing

A House Armed Services hearing that was supposed to focus on the economic effects of a trimmed Defense budget turned into a debate over a China currency bill that was recently approved in the Senate.

While the other economists on the panel focused on how further cuts to defense will impact the U.S economy regionally and nationally, Peter Morici, a University of Maryland economist, turned his attention toward what he referred to as China’s mercantilism and currency manipulation.

“China abuses the WTO system and flaunts free-market principles with high tariffs and domestic institutions that systematically block U.S. and EU exports,” Morici said. “All of this has imposed a large and growing bilateral trade imbalance that destroys millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs…and makes the United States less capable of maintaining defense capabilities necessary to meeting its security obligations and accomplish its legitimate security goals.”

When challenged by committee member Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) as to what his opinion on the China currency bill has to do with the focus of the hearing on the economic effects of military cuts, Morici responded that America will not be able to afford defense, in any regard, if China’s mercantilism continues to threaten a struggling U.S. economy.

“If we don’t address the China currency problem, we’re making the defense problem impossible,” Morici said.

“China’s mercantilism, anti-democratic values and soft approach to civil and human rights making will be seen an attractive comprehensive package, necessary for ensuring economic prosperity and personal security,” Morici said. “Americans and their values and institutions will become isolated and unable to compete. America will be more isolated and dramatically weakened.”

The China currency bill passed the Senate Tuesday on a bipartisan 63-35 vote and is currently awaiting . The White House has yet to take a formal position on the matter.