Posted on 08/14/2011 6:39:15 AM PDT by blam
'Doomsday' Defense Cuts Loom Large For Select 12
By DONNA CASSATA - Associated Press
August 14, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the dozen lawmakers given the task of producing a deficit-cutting plan, the threatened "doomsday" defense cuts hit close to home.
The six Republicans and six Democrats represent states where the biggest military contractors — Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics Corp., Raytheon Co. and Boeing Co. — build missiles, aircraft, jet fighters and tanks while employing tens of thousands of workers.
The potential for $500 billion more in defense cuts could force the Pentagon to cancel or scale back multibillion-dollar weapons programs. That could translate into significant layoffs in a fragile economy, generate millions less in tax revenues for local governments and upend lucrative company contracts with foreign nations.
The cuts could hammer Everett, Wash., where some of the 30,000 Boeing employees are working on giant airborne refueling tankers for the Air Force, or Amarillo, Texas, where 1,100 Bell Helicopter Textron workers assemble the fuselage, wings, engines and transmissions for the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
Billions in defense cuts would be a blow to the hundreds working on upgrades to the Abrams tank for General Dynamics in Lima, Ohio, or the employees of BAE Systems in Pennsylvania.
For committee members such as Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., the threat of Pentagon cuts is an incentive to come up with $1.5 trillion in savings over a decade. Failure would have brutal implications for hundreds of thousands workers back home and raise the potential of political peril for the committee's 12.
"I think we all have very good reasons to try to prevent" the automatic cuts,
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I don't think so.
These layoffs will just add more people to the dole and the need for higher taxes which will lead to....
TSHTF when the social entitlements are cut and that is where the bigs cuts must be made. I read that medicare and SS are the killers in the budget. These defense cuts are just a drop in the bucket.
My son is a scientist (PhD physics) for Northrup - Grumman in SOCAL, presently, he's not concerned with these cuts.
They will leave Entitlements alone. Count on it. They’re too afraid of having TSHTF. Remember: PhDs in Physics don’t riot—illegals and gangbangers do.
Good this will keep them honest in an election year.
Good this will keep them honest in an election year.
48% Think Spending Cuts Could Trigger Violence (13% very likely)
The good people of South Carolina have got to be ‘thrilled to death’ about Clyburn representing them on the committee!!
No if defense cuts happen under this scenario medicare gets slashed automatically. This is a two-edged sword.
Depts of Education, Energy and the EPA could go into the wastebasket and save a whole bunch of money.
agreed. especially the democrats certainly don’t care about defense cuts. most WANT them.
we had Obama over the barrel on the debt ceiling.
instead we gave him 2.4 trillion,
and put conservatives over the barrel,
with huge defense cuts.
...which is why that bill was such a disaster.
the Dems win either way. they get tax increases,
or they get big defense cuts on the GOP’s head.
thanks to the great victory of Boehner and Col West.
It still takes a vote of the House and Senate to pass those automatically triggered cuts!
We would be cutting our military at a time when China and Russia are building theirs up. Israel is at great risk in the middle east, and then there is Iran.
Anything less than a vote by the House and Senate will challenged Constitutionally.
What more could Obama want? Remember he wants a ‘islamic’ post America world!
"Anger and frustration from dozens of Clayton County parents who say their children are going hungry after their food stamps were suddenly cut off."
Clyburn Hopes To Use Supercommittee Post To Tackle Growing Wealth Gap ("Tithing")
LLS
This is pretty much the icing on the steaming pile. There is absolutely no way that a reasonable deal may be reached by this group of RINO’s and Marxists. Defense cuts will happen under Obama with or without this POS panel.
The idiots that brought you this screw up better start working on their wiggle now. The only fall back position left is to offer up Cut Cap and Balance again and say that the left is stealing your goodies cause there isn’t any more money to tap. Of course, that would require a spine, one of the most rare commodities in politics.
I'm not opposed to Defense cuts. But there are many additional areas that need cutting even more. The Entitlement crowd should sacrifice its sacred cows if they want patriots to accept deep Defense cuts. But they won't.
LLS
Not according to Rush.
LLS
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.