Defense Sequestration (June 2012)

The defense budget politicians are going ga-ga over a monster they helped to create: the “sequester” of about $500 billion out of the defense budget over the next nine years — the broadly undesired effect of the Budget Control Act and the  failed supercommittee of 2011.

Washington insiders believe that the threat of $500 billion in sequestration defense cuts and an extension of the Bush tax cuts will be worked out in the lame-duck session of Congress after the elections. The opposite is true: we’re headed for higher taxes and still more defense cuts.

It’s Democrats’ worst election nightmare: a million more workers about to be unemployed coupled with a U.S. military unable to meet its national security commitments worldwide.

Congress has fewer than seven months left before the first set of sequestration cuts are set to take place. 

Our nation’s military is the most advanced and battle-hardened fighting force in history. The proficiency of the American men and women who serve in uniform is respected around the world. Their ability to get the job done is unmatched, and their sacrifice to our country is an inspiration to us all. 

The shadow play over a coming defense sequester is in high gear. Last week at a Bloomberg defense conference Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Reps. Jim Moran (D-Va.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) clearly had their lines down. Each waxed at high pitch about how disastrous a sequester next year would be for our defense capabilities and our global role. Contracts would be canceled, troops laid off and workers fired in droves.

“Sequestration” might be classic “inside the Beltway” jargon, but the issue has the potential to have a real impact on the 2012 presidential election if it’s tied to something that has everyone’s attention: jobs.