43
Include defense for cuts, say tea partiers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo
In this Nov. 3, 2010, file photo Tea Party Patriots co-founders Mark Meckler, right, with Jenny Beth Martin, speaks at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. Tea party groups say if the government is going to cut spending, the military's budget needs to be part of the mix. "It is time to get serious about preserving the country for our posterity. The mentality that certain programs are 'off the table,' must be taken off the table," Meckler said.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Tea partiers clamoring for the debt-ridden government to slash spending say nothing should be off limits. Tea-party-backed lawmakers echo that argument, and they’re not exempting the military’s multibillion-dollar budget in a time of war.
That demand is creating hard choices for new members of Congress, especially Republicans who owe their elections and solid House majority to the influential grass-roots movement. Cutting defense and canceling weapons could mean deep spending reductions and high marks from tea partiers as the nation wrestles with a $1.3 trillion deficit. It also could jeopardize thousands of jobs when unemployment is running high.
House Republican leaders specifically exempted defense, homeland security and veterans’ programs from spending cuts in their party’s “Pledge to America” campaign manifesto last fall. But the House’s new majority leader, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., has said defense programs could join others on the cutting board.
The defense budget is about $700 billion annually. Few in Congress have been willing to make cuts as U.S. troops fight in Afghanistan and finish the operation in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in a recent pre-emptive move, proposed $78 billion in spending cuts and an additional $100 billion in cost-saving moves. While that amounts to $13 billion less than the Pentagon wanted to spend in the coming year, it still stands as 3 percent growth after inflation is taken into account.
That’s why tea-party groups say if the government is going to cut spending, the military’s budget needs to be part of the mix.
“The widely held sentiment among Tea Party Patriots members is that every item in the budget, including military spending and foreign aid, must be on the table,” said Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots.