Senator urges Congress to block new defense cuts
Source: Reuters
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON | Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:20pm EDT
(Reuters) - The threat of new U.S. defense spending cuts next year is creating uncertainty in the economy, and Congress should take steps this summer to reassure industry it is capable of "avoiding that train wreck," a top senator on defense issues said on Tuesday.
"Uncertainty which is created by the threat, the prospect, the specter, of sequestration, I believe, is a real threat to this economy," said Senator Carl Levin, referring to $500 billion in automatic cuts that will kick in unless Congress acts to stop them.
"Not only must we avoid sequestration - in my judgment we will - but we must do it in time to avoid a severe weakening to this economy. That's the greater challenge that we face," Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at the National Press Club.
The Pentagon, which is already implementing $487 billion in cuts to projected defense spending over the next decade, faces another half a trillion dollars in automatic reductions over 10 years unless Congress acts.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/12/us-usa-defense-budget-idUSBRE85B1BY20120612
= new reply since forum marked as read
Clause-in-NDAA-2012 Levin?
Protecting Wars 'r' U.S. American Troops for sale to Romney's FOREIGN masters?
. . . surprise 
surprise
