Posted on 11/21/2011 8:08:19 PM PST by presidio9
President Obama said he would veto any effort by lawmakers to repeal a requirement for $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts to be triggered after the Super Committee failed to agree on terms to save the country $1.2 trillion over a 10-year span.
“There will be no easy off ramps on this one,” Obama said at an afternoon press conference where he laid blame squarely on Republicans who refused to bend in their defense of tax cuts for the wealthy during debt talks. “We need to keep the pressure up to compromise, not turn off the pressure.”
He went on to promise that the deficit will be reduced by at least $2.2 trillion in the next decade “one way or another.” He included the roughly $1 trillion in cuts approved in August.
"The only way these spending cuts will not take place is if Congress gets back to work to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion," he said. "They've still got a year to figure it out."
These automatic spending cuts are designed to fall evenly on the military and domestic government programs beginning in 2013.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as well as lawmakers in both parties have warned the impact on the Pentagon could be devastating.
"In my four decades involved with public service, I have never been more concerned about the ability of Congress to forge common-sense solutions to the nation's pressing problems," Panetta, a former House budget committee chairman, said in a statement.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., issued a statement about the mandatory cuts to defense, calling the sequester of $600 billion in defense spending a “threat to the national security interests of the United States and cannot be allowed to occur.”
After months of talks,
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I agree...but if there is any chance for the automatic cuts (the only realistic option now for those who truly want smaller government) to go into effect is if the GOP is smart enough to embrace them. Otherwise, you’re analysis is spot on.
This is where his media goes to work. Them that should be called his "Post Failure PR Team", will be spinning this every way they can to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the six republicans on the committee.
Obama, Kerry and Washington State's poster girl for dental hygiene, Patty Murry will be portrayed as saintly devotees to the American good who have been beaten down by hateful conservatives.
It is already happening. Today’s NPR report was a textbook case of pro-Obama shilling. Nevertheless, there are ways to fight back if the GOP plays this right.
MLK said, "It is not the voices of your enemies that you will remember, it is the silence of your friends."
He stacked the supercommittee with far left liberals and directed them not to budge.. What in the world is there to agree with here? Gutting defense and leaving most everything else alone fits in with HIS agenda.. and yours apparently. Shameful.
The bill should originate in the House, not in some Supercommittee attic closet. WTF ? Whoever did not see this clustermuck coming is an imbecile.
"I agree...but if there is any chance for the automatic cuts (the only realistic option now for those who truly want smaller government) to go into effect is if the GOP is smart enough to embrace them."
But if you agree that there won't be any real domestic cuts when all is said and done (beyond phony accounting), then that's essentially sacrificing defense cuts, and getting nothing in substantive domestic cuts in return. There's no leverage there- domestic spending will continue to spiral out of control, and you will have even less power to stop it going forward.
On what basis, do you make that claim? Obama may want to be dictator but he doesn’t have the power to single out any agency without cooperation by Congress. Super Committee or not, it will take an affirmative vote by Congress to override the automatic cuts and single out the military. As long as Congress doesn’t make such a vote, the military will not be singled out and the automatic cuts, IF they are allowed by Congress to take place as scheduled, will hit BOTH the military and domestic spending.
"On what basis, do you make that claim?...As long as Congress doesn’t make such a vote, the military will not be singled out and the automatic cuts, IF they are allowed by Congress to take place as scheduled, will hit BOTH the military and domestic spending."
It doesn't take too much insight to realize that Obama and the Dems will work quietly over the next year to cut as much in defense as possible to appease his base (but not too much to appear weak), while at the same time acting like he's really going to allow domestic cuts to occur- which of course they never will. This is why the lefty blogs and pundits were all ecstatic about the super-committee failing.
And once the defense cuts happen- but the domestic ones don't- the game is up. I'm sorry, but from a solely tactical perspective, this is why Ron Paul is wrong.
Work quietly? How? Will he issue executive orders overriding Congress? Will he repudiate his defense secretary who has circled the wagons against any cuts?
“Work quietly? How? Will he issue executive orders overriding Congress? Will he repudiate his defense secretary who has circled the wagons against any cuts?”
—This is not an administration known for being exactly honest with any numbers they report. Plus, Obama will use the drawdown in Iraq to pad the defense cuts.
And if Panetta becomes too much of a burden- then they will force him out, and get larger cuts.
On the domestic side, if I am correct, nothing will occur.
I was referring to the outcome: spending cuts. If the desire to spend less is shameful - then you and I will agree on very little.
The cuts do not 'gut' defense. It will force review of expenditures, which is sorely needed. 70% of my business is from the DOD, and I can tell you that the amount of waste and nonsense would boggle most people's mind. There must be spending reductions - yes even in the DOD. The key wil be to make them in the right places that don't sacrifice defense readiness or troop support.
You dont understand politics much, do you? These are the only real cuts on the table; no real cuts to any other agency, 2 trillion in entitlements and pensions are off the table . Any real negotiator for "our side" would never have agreed to this.
Lets me ask you ; after the Bush tax cuts are recinded and Defense has been cut 20 %, what else do we have to give them? More tax increases? A VAT ?, Confiscating 401k's ?
You can bet your buttons they will be asking for more..in the name of compromise!
Lets me ask you ; after the Bush tax cuts are recinded and Defense has been cut 20 %, what else do we have to give them? More tax increases? A VAT ?, Confiscating 401k's ?
You can bet your buttons they will be asking for more..in the name of compromise!
Talk about a circuitous argument?!?! I addressed this in the first reply I posted to this thread:
We were sold this "supercommitte" line of crap during the debt ceiling debate, and I knew at that time it was a road to nowhere. Now that the debt ceiling has been raised, there are those who want to back-peddle on the objective of moving toward a balanced budget and reigning in our out of control borrowing. I call bull$5&t! The Dims don't understand that we do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. The Repubes and RINOS don't have the backbone to target cuts where they are needed most - the endless gov't giveaway train.
Apparently you wish to lower yourself to name calling in the abscence of any merit. I'll allow your obvious lack of reading comprehension speak for itself.
Nice speech , but you applauded Obama for forcing the defense cuts down our throat without any other significant cuts. ..Or was that someone else?
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