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McKeon: 'Stunned by the president's silence' on defense cuts in sequester fact sheet
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, blasted the President Obama Friday after a fact sheet released by the White House on the impact of the sequester did not include information about potential defense cuts.
"Today the White House finally broke their silence on the consequences President Obama's sequester would have on domestic spending. I wouldn't downplay those important impacts, but I was stunned at the President's silence on national security risks and I am frustrated that he continues to look to our men and women in uniform to pay the cost of America's debt crisis," McKeon said in a statement. "After all, it is their lives that are at greater risks today, because of the cuts already imposed."
Speaking to reporters shortly after the release of the fact sheet, Office of Management and Budget federal controller Danny Werfel said that because "there has been in the public domain a lot of discussion to date about the impact that the sequester would have on the defense realm," the White House wanted to highlight that "the impacts on our domestic priorities as a nation would be just as severe."
But McKeon maintains the White House was wrong to focus exclusively on cuts to non-defense programs.
"There was not one mention of the military, which is half of sequester's cuts, in the White House's fact sheet," McKeon said. "I don't know which is worse, the deafening silence from the White House or the tone-deafness about sequester's impact on national security."
Werfel did stress to reporters that cuts to defense programs "would be severe and must not be allowed to occur" in his briefing with reporters.
"As Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey have both said on numerous occasions, sequestration would create a serious crisis in military readiness and pose the risk of creating a hollow force by undercutting the essential services, equipment, and support our Armed Forces rely on," Werfel said.
President Obama also mentioned the potential cuts to defense spending in remarks Friday afternoon at a farewell tribute to outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Pannetta.
"Here today, for the sake of our prosperity, for the sake of all these men and women in uniform, and all their brothers and sisters in uniform that they represent, now is the time to act — for Democrats and Republicans to come together in the same spirit that Leon Panetta always brought to public service — solving problems, not trying to score points," Obama said after acknowledging the looming sequester. "Doing right for the country, not for any particular political agenda. Sustaining our economic recovery, balancing budgets — Leon knows something about it — but also maintaining the finest military in history."
