Kyl slams Obama over defense cutting trigger in debt ceiling bill

The Debt-Ceiling bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday stipulates that if a special House-Senate committee can not agree on a deficit-reduction plan by year's end, or Congress rejects its proposal, it would trigger automatic cuts to both defense and domestic programs.

Potential cuts to domestic spending would force the Democrats to reach a bipartisan agreement, and the prospect of cutting $492 billion from defense programs would force Republican lawmakers to bend. The President and Congressional Democrats insisted on inserting the defense cutting trigger into the bill.

Apparently $492 billion in defense spending cuts is only a matter of concern to the GOP, but is of little concern to the President and Congressional Democrats. Sen. Jon Kyl noted the irony on the Senate floor on Tuesday; a reporter noted the irony during a White House press briefing on Monday.