Defense

The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee said Tuesday that Congress should re-examine the $500 billion in Defense Department cuts that have been triggered now that the congressional supercommittee has failed to come up with a recommendation on how to trim the deficit.

"I believe it will go too far in cutting the Defense Department," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said on CNN. "We need to re-look at this sequester, make sure that the cuts are across the board far more, and not so heavily directed toward the Defense Department."

House Democrats on Thursday condemned a 2012 spending bill — which also includes a continuing resolution allowing the government to operate through Dec. 16 — for containing several policy riders they say have no place in the bill.

One of these riders would block funding for any rule under the Department of Agriculture (USDA) that does not allow tomato paste used on pizza to be considered a vegetable. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said this language essentially allows school lunch programs to treat pizza as a serving of vegetables.

“This language equates pizza with vegetables and weakens otherwise good school-nutrition standards,” Polis said. “This false equivalency harkens back to the ludicrous labeling of ketchup as a vegetable, made infamous 30 years ago by President Ronald Reagan.”

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) on Tuesday introduced a bill that would ship 10 percent of the returning military equipment from Iraq to the border of Mexico for border security.

"The American people have invested billions of dollars in equipment used to secure Iraq; now it's time to use that equipment to secure the United States," said Poe. "State and local officials are doing the job of the federal government—defending the international border with Mexico."

The House on Tuesday afternoon approved legislation that would authorize the Coast Guard through 2014, and also sets a single, national standard for ballast water discharge that Democrats opposed. The bill was approved by voice vote after a motion to recommit the bill failed.

The bill is aimed at letting the Coast Guard maintain current personnel levels for the next three years. It provides $8.5 billion in 2012, $8.6 billion in 2013 and $8.7 billion in 2014.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said Tuesday morning that the U.S. should cut the budget deficit by reducing its reliance on nuclear weapons and cutting military bases throughout the country.

"There are number of military armaments and machines that we simply don't need," Ellison said on the House floor. "We don't need to depend on a nuclear arsenal in my view, Mr. Speaker. We need to continue to ... engage in international agreements to cut the nuclear weaponry arsenal inventory in the world."

The legislation offers incentives for businesses to hire veterans and repeals a widely hated tax rule.

Senate Democrats this week will offer an amendment to a bill repealing the 3 percent withholding rule that adds a new section requiring the federal government to take several steps aimed at helping returning veterans to transition to civilian employment, and also adds a tax credit for companies that hire veterans.

The amendment, offered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), adds a new "Vow to Hire Heroes" section to the bill, which broadly boosts retraining assistance for veterans. It also requires a study on how veterans with certain skills learned in the armed forces can find related jobs in the private sector.

Two longstanding House critics of U.S. military operations thanked President Obama for his decision last week to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by the end of this year.

"I would like to thank President Obama for bringing all of our troops home from Iraq by the end of this year," Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said on the House floor.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said over the weekend that U.S. defense spending must fall dramatically in order for the deficit-reduction supercommittee to reach its goal of cutting $1.5 trillion in spending over the next decade.

"I am convinced that we cannot reduce the deficit over that 10-year period in a responsible way, the way that leaves us able to still protect the quality of life here in America and to promote good economic activity in America, unless we substantially reduce America's worldwide military footprint," Frank said Sunday, as reported by the Taunton Daily Gazette.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday will offer her long-awaited testimony on the status of U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Aside from discussing ongoing military efforts in Afghanistan, the hearing is likely to explore congressional demands for reduced U.S. aid to Pakistan in light of the discovery of Osama bin Laden deep within that country.