Thursday, December 15, 2011

Lindsey Graham slams Obama for threatening to veto any changes to the defense sequester - Excerpts from President's speech, Fort Bragg

Senators Jon Kyl, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte announced at a joint news conference on Wednesday that they will soon unveil a new [federal] deficit reduction plan.

A bipartisan Congressional super committee, authorized by the Budget Control Act of 2011 to devise a plan to reduce the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, failed to reach an agreement by the November 23 deadline.

The Budget Control Act included an "enforcement" mechanism that would automatically slash $600 billion in defense discretionary spending, if the committee failed to reach an agreement.

The Republican senators said their new deficit reduction plan would protect the defense budget from the notorious and perilous trigger [sequester mechanism].

However, President Obama has said that he would veto any attempt to undo or alter the automatic spending cuts. Obama's veto threat drew a critical response from Sen. Graham at Wednesday's press conference.

No comments: