Due Diligence: Romney attacks on defense cuts

(CBS News) Mitt Romney has a message that he believes will help him with military voters: President Obama pushed the massive defense cuts that are set to kick in at the end of the year. It's a message with particular resonance in Virginia, a crucial swing state with a significant military population. Romney made is argument in Virginia Beach earlier this month, echoing ads he is running in the state.

"We're talking about $1 trillion in cuts," he said, combining the looming cuts with earlier cuts already agreed to by the Pentagon. "The estimates of the kind of numbers of jobs lost in Virginia from these cuts is between 100,000 and 200,000. It's unthinkable. It's unthinkable to Virginia, to our employment needs, but it's also unthinkable to the ability and the commitment of America to maintain our liberty, with liberty for all. And, therefore, if I'm President of the United States, we'll get rid of those sequestration cuts and rebuild America's military might." 

The "sequestration cuts" Romney is talking about are the planned $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts set to kick in at the end of the year, about $500 billion of which comes from defense budget. (The cuts are set to phase in over nine years.) Now, neither party wants them. But they may get them anyway.

Back in 2011, the parties were engaged in a standoff over raising the debt ceiling. Republicans would only agree to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for a deal to significantly reduce the deficit. Since they were unable to come up with a deal in the short term, lawmakers came up with a plan: Set up a bipartisan "supercommittee" to find $1.2 trillion in additional cuts. And mandate that if lawmakers fail, automatic, nearly across-the-board cuts would kick in at the end of the year. The idea was that because both parties did not want that to happen, lawmakers would come to a deal. Of course, in this polarized age, they didn't.

So now the sequester looms as part of what some call the "fiscal cliff." Unless something changes, the first round of cuts - to the tune of $109 billion - will come in January.

There are a couple problems with Romney's efforts to blame the president for this. The first is that the sequester deal was the result of the demands of Congressional Republicans. The second is that those same Congressional Republicans - including Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan - voted to set the cuts in motion.

"What conservatives like me have been fighting for, for years, are statutory caps on spending, legal caps in law that says government agencies cannot spend over a set amount of money," Ryan said on Fox News, lauding the deal. "And if they breach that amount across the board, sequester comes in to cut that spending, and you can't turn that off without a super-majority vote. We got that in law."

Romney blames the president for the cuts by pointing to a report in Bob Woodward's new book that the idea for the deal originated in the White House. And while the White House says the cuts would be "deeply destructive," the president has also that he will veto any bill to repeal the sequester, saying lawmakers either have to come to a deal or accept the cuts. But in light of the fact that Romney's own party's debt ceiling demands are the reason the sequester needed to be devised in the first place, it's a pretty big stretch to cast the cuts as the president's fault.

What is true is that Romney wants to spend more money on the military than the president. He has vowed to spend at least 4 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Assuming the economy does not tank in the coming years, that would mean a significant expansion in military spending despite the winding down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One analysis found that Romney's baseline would add $2.3 trillion to the defense budget over 10 years from projected 2013 spending levels.

[sjc_1]

Mitt wants a $500 billion per year tax cut he can not pay for and a $200 billion increase in military spending he can not pay for. Those two combined add $700 billion to a $1.1 trillion deficit. If he decides to pay for those, it will have to be a $700 billion cut from Medicare and SS. Like Clinton says, do the arithmetic.

[rationall7]

Mittens wants to increase military spending in spite of a reduction of our (their) two wars and he is kissing the butts of the workers for their votes and more importantly he's kissing the butts of the profiteers for more fund raising money and maybe some free stock-shares after leaving office.

Mittens motto, scratch my back and I'll scratch yours after election.

[rationall7]

The republicans under Bush started not one but two wars to get oil and OBL and didn't get either, then they complain about too much goverment spending from day one when Obama took office knowing dare well the increased spending was for their war money budget approved by them out into 2013 or further.

While Mittens is crying about budget cuts approved by both parties Obama is working on a leaner more effective military.

[MonkeyTree1]

OBAMA JUST LIES

Obama has destroyed the country with Big Government expansion, deficit spending, and obstruction of the conservative reforms.

The Government sector is the new Elite sector. They now make all the money and get all the benefits.
Politicians will not vote for a pay cut. The government sector can afford to have children.

So those of you in the private sector your the new poor and the slave to the government sector wishes.

Cant you see the division that's going on
Get a Clue

VOTE FOR ROMNEY

[rationall7]

A vote for Mittens is a vote for more military spending at a time when our wars are ending. Mittens wants to give hand-outs to the war profiteers because they are crying they are victoms.

[MonkeyTree1]

funny - watch obama lie here
You didnt build that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK19WEwOIOo

My father was a WW II vet - So Untrue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv4jnlkxOaw

Obama is against the People. Obama wanst more control over the people.

[RollotheNorman]

Your father was a WWII vet? That would in all likelihood put you of age to go to 'Nam. From the way you phrase things, I'm guessing you didn't. You could have had an exemption for mental defect, obvious from your posts, or maybe you imitated Willard and the former RepubliCON hero Dubya and dodged the draft. Just another draft dodging RepubliCON. BTW, what were you doing with that monkey in the tree? Lucky, lucky, you, the Librul SCOTUS got rid of sodomy laws.

[alphabet77-2009]

I would like to point out that this effort by R&R to mislead the military voting public is only to distract from the fact that just within the last two weeks, the GOP in Congress have done two things to harm veterans:

1. They blocked the Veterans jobs bill that the Democrats submitted. The Veterans Job Corps Act would have allocated $1 billion to help veterans find jobs. Currently the rate of unemployment for veterans is over 11%, 30% higher than for the general public. The rate of suicides among veterans is spiraling, and one reason is the dismal jobs prospect outside of the military.

The GOP say the reason they blocked the bill was that it would violate a budget restriction established during last year's budget battle. However, they do not consider that the bill would pay for itself in several years when people are able to find work, get off unemployment benefits and welfare, and generate income from which taxes would be collected.


2. The Cost of Living Allowance increase for the Dept. Veterans Affairs Benefits, which usually passes each year without opposition, was this year held up because of AN ANONYMOUS Senate REPUBLICAN put a hold on the Allowance. The hold wasn't released until just before Congress left for recess, thus ensuring that it cannot be acted upon until after the election.



Purely political plays by the GOP in Congress to score political points at the expense of veterans.

Veterans and military personnel, how can you put up with this kind of scurrilousness from the GOP? Don't stand for it.

[alphabet77-2009]

May I also point out that R&R's targetting military voters with lies is very disrespectful to people who risk life and limb fighting for this country.

Show them respect.

The fact that you are lying to them is a slap in the face to those who risk everything to fight to defend our country.

[alphabet77-2009]

Thanks, CBS, for helping to point out lies.

[alphabet77-2009]

Another lie by Romney and Ryan on the trail. There are at least 3 things that are mendacious about Romney's and Ryan's pitch to the veterans and military voting bloc:


1. Ryan VOTED for the cuts.

2. The REPUBLICANS PUSHED for the cuts.

3. The cuts are across the board cuts. There is no $1 trillion cut especially targeted to the military.


More lies by the GOP. What else is new?

[parrot2-2009]

Is this a part of the Mormon-End-Of-The-World preparation scenario, that Romney keeps talking about ?? Dumb DUmb Repugs!!