[SkyPilot]

"Keeping the cuts in place has “been a priority for me and my Republican colleagues,” McConnell said."

Senator "Weasel" McConnell - proving once again this is not Ronald Reagan's GOP. The Republicans are now a greater enemy to the military than Democrats. Who would have ever thought that possible? But sadly, it is now cold, hard fact.

Many of you are upset that Republicans could not overturn ObamaCare (a long shot at best without control of the Senate or the White House).

Stopping the bleeding of the military was an achievable goal, had the Republicans chosen to even carry that fight.

Instead, they stabbed the military in the back - - again.

I am done with the Republican party.

GOP hawks suddenly silent on sequestration

Because of the structure of defense spending, our national security forces and defense industry have been able to continue operating under sequestration, but not without permanent damage. The full brunt of the cuts hasn’t hit yet, and if we go down the sequester path for too long, we won’t be able to reverse the devastating impacts. It isn’t primarily the size of either the federal budget or the defense budget that poses problems; it is the dramatic change in the composition of those budgets over the decade—entitlements are pushing out investments. And sequester worsens that trend. Essential government services, especially in defense, are not being performed, and will not be if sequester continues. The combination of sequester cuts and unaddressed cost increases will erode force readiness, stall modernization, and reduce the fighting forces by at least 50% by 2021. The impact of the defense sequester on spending, which drives the economic impact, will double in FY 14 and triple in FY 15, compared to FY 13.

One of the few people talking about the Sequester today is a Democrat!

Panetta Slams Senate Deal for Failing to Deal With Defense Cuts

Sen Orin ("Don't Cut Your Hatches Before They've Chickened") Hatch was just on MSNBC bragging about how the Sequester will be "preserved" to devastate the military in the coming years.

Way to go GOP!

The military is approximately 17% of the budget (and shrinking), yet it is forced to "pay for" 50% of all Sequestration cuts.

Operations and Maintenance accounts were cut 40-50% last year, and FY14 and FY15 will be even worse.

Much worse.

Thousands of DoD doctors, nurses, and medical professionals have quit in disgust. Eleven Air Force combat wings went non-mission ready. Navy ships and submarines are being mothballed because of lack of maintenance funds. The Army and Marines will be cutting over 140,0000 troops, and that is just the floor, not the ceiling. Research, development, and procurement are being decimated. Thousands of defense jobs and related jobs have already been lost.

But the GOP won't touch the Entitlement Welfare State, which is the real cause of our exploding debt and deficits.

Cowards.

Republicans are happy to exploit the military and veterans when they think it serves them, but they collaborate with those who destroy it fiscally.

In fact, they are now leading the charge to bring the military to its knees.

I voted for Steve Lonegan yesterday - and that is my last vote for a member of the Republican party until they stop this assault on the US military.

God help us all.

Experts: Sequester Cuts Will Devastate U.S. Military

[CharlesWayneCT]

I think the conservative position in this fight was clearly on the side of NOT spending more money.

There will be a push in the budget negotiations to modify the sequester. The democrat’s plan all along was to use the GOP love of the military to bribe them into accepting higher non-defense spending and to raise taxes.

The failure in leadership was when the sequester was designed. Now we are left with only bad options. Not winning elections can really keep you from getting what you want. It’s time we learned that lesson and focus on majorities.

[Diogenesis]

"WE in the GOP defend corruption, leave the borders open,
arm al Qaeda and ignore its coverup,
actually make money from the TSA non-profiling nonsense,
as we enjoy FORCING ObamaCARE/RomneyCARE
on YOU and YOUR children, but not ours or our staff.
We are the GOP, home for conservative and Constitutional backstabbers."

[stonewall_jackson215]

if we need to balance the budget the pentagon should not be immune from cuts. in fact, it is mathematically impossible to balance the budget without cutting needless military spending. SS/medicare are about 55% of the budget; 10% is interest on the debt (which cannot be cut); defense spending is 20%, and remaining discretionary spending is 15%.

to balance our budget the military must share the pain, especially as the wars in afghanistan and iraq come to an end. the alternative is borrowing more money from the communists in peking

[OldGoatCPO]

Here is an article about what is happening locally to the Marine Corps. Like so many other professionals, I will probably leave the DOD next year, I will not wait to be cut and left floundering with a family to support. http://jdnews.com/military/II-mef-headquarters-to-relocate-as-corps-shrinks-to174a000-1-217777

While this may sound good, the world has not changed, it is a very dangerous place, these men and women will deploy until they are burned out, the good ones will leave the service for a better quality of life leaving us a hollowed out force similar if not worse than 1980. The next 9-11 strike we will be too weak to respond, but hey the EBT cards will work. This time it is the GOP who is to blame, they had an opportunity to lift sequestration and renegotiate so the DOD does not get hammered.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

I wonder how much of those entitlements are Social Security payments to elderly people who not only paid SS taxes all their life, but also supported military spending through high taxation for many years during the Cold War.

I'm for prudent investment in US strategic defenses, but this Washington DC attitude of seeing endless world crisis and needing to police the world has to end if we are to survive.

[montag813]

Oh please, the Pentagon could cut $30-50 is stupid programs without adversely affecting our security. There is SO much ridiculous waste, as there is in farm subsidies, obamaphone, etc.

[Patriot95]

They cut the one thing the government is actually supposed to fund, but then spend $200 million moving office furniture in D.C and $3 billion on some freaking river project in Ohio. I don’t think that the Defense industry and fiscal Conservatives should be enemies. The cuts that need to take place are the brass sitting in the Pentagon making half a million dollars not the technology, research and development, and combat pay.

[Always A Marine]

The Pentagon has more than enough money, and should not be immune from cuts. We are wasting our treasure in lives and dollars on perpetual war that gains us nothing but more trouble and which cannot be sustained. History illustrates the financial collapse of every empire that grew beyond sustainability. We are not immune, and we are choking on the ever-accumulating debt.

[chud]

On the other hand, sequestration is the only thing holding Obama in check right now.