Automatic Military Cuts May Stand in Congress

[ProSense]

Automatic Military Cuts May Stand in Congress

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

WASHINGTON—Mere seconds after the leaders of a joint Congressional committee announced their failure to reach a deficit deal, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee announced he would try to undo the consequences.

Yet the chairman, Representative Howard P. McKeon, Republican of California, and other members of Congress who hope to overturn the automatic cuts may find their biggest obstacle is not President Obama, who has already called the reversal of $1.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years a nonstarter, but leaders of both parties in Congress. They control what legislation reaches the floor and have shown little hankering for reversing the cuts.

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And while Republican lawmakers with strong ties to the Pentagon and the defense industry will be aggressive in asserting that the automatic cuts will harm the military, many newer conservative lawmakers are more devoted to cutting spending than to bolstering the Pentagon budget, potentially diluting the party’s support for restoring the money.

“If the plan is to exempt only defense spending from sequestration,” said Will Adams, a spokesman for Representative Justin Amash, a freshman Republican from Michigan, “he does not support it. ”

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Cracks in the ranks!

To quote Bernie Sanders: "The American people have made it clear that it is time to take a hard look at mushrooming defense spending."