| White House Outlines Painful Automatic Spending Cuts |
| Sep-14-2012 |
| Keywords: white house, sequestration, defense, domestic, spending, cuts |
The overdue White House sequestration report issued Friday outlines deep "destructive" cuts in both defense and domestic programs.
"Sequestration would be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments and core government functions," the report says.
The report says the automatic cuts, mandated by the failure of last year's congressional deficit "supercommittee" to strike a budget deal, would require an across-the-board cut of 9 percent to most Pentagon programs and an 8 percent cut in many domestic programs.
The cuts, combined with the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts at the end of the year, have been dubbed the "fiscal cliff." Economists warn that if congress doesn't take swift action to head off the one-two punch, the economy could fall back into recession next year.
The across-the-board cuts were devised as part of last summer's budget and debt deal between President Barack Obama and Capitol Hill Republicans. They were intended to drive the supercommittee to strike a compromise that never came about. Instead, the American people are left staring down the largest tax hike in the nation's history as Republicans and Democrats point the finger of blame at one another.
The White House report continues in that vein, blasting House Republicans for an approach that cuts into domestic programs while protecting upper-bracket taxpayers from higher tax rates proposed by the president.
In advance of the election, rival Democratic and GOP sides are dug in, unwilling to make the required compromises and unable to trust the other side. It's assumed, hardly guaranteed that there will be more serious efforts to head-off the cuts in the post-election lame duck session.
If a compromise is not reached, our nation's security will be in jeopardy.
The report warns that the Pentagon faces cuts that "would result in a reduction in readiness of many non-deployed units, delays in investments in new equipment and facilities, cutbacks in equipment repairs, declines in military research and development efforts and reductions in base services for military families."
The White House report also warns of dire effects on domestic programs as well.
"The number of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, Customs and Border Patrol agents, correctional officers and federal prosecutors would be slashed. The Federal Aviation Administration's ability to oversee and manage the nation's airspace and air traffic control would be reduced," the report says. " |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 1:00 PM Email to a friend |
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