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FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- At a defense-industry roundtable meeting here -- which included two retired four-star generals -- Paul Ryan criticized the pending $500 billion in defense cuts that would go into effect in Jan. 2013.
These cuts -- part of what’s known as “sequestration” -- were part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that Congress passed to resolve last year's debt-ceiling standoff.
“When those budget negotiations were going on, it was the president and his party leaders that insisted on this makeup, this formula,” Ryan said at the invite-only event near the Fort Bragg military base. “Defense spending is not half of all federal spending, but its half of the cuts approximately in the sequester. We disagreed with that then, and we disagree with it now.”
And he vowed that a Romney-Ryan administration would restore the cuts. “That means if we have to do it in January, we will do it in January. That’s our position. We are crystal clear about it because it’s not just policy, it's personal,” Ryan said. “And it’s important that we send the right signals to our military families, to our economy, and to our adversaries. We are going to be strong, we are not going to back down, don’t question our resolve.”
Yet Ryan voted for the Budget Control Act, which contained these same defense cuts as well as cuts to social programs. And the Obama campaign highlighted the contradiction.
“Congressman Ryan voted for the agreement he criticized today, and he walked away from a balanced deficit-reduction plan last summer because he thought it would help the president’s re-election prospects,” Obama spokesman Danny Kanner said in a statement. “And Mitt Romney himself has said that he didn’t want Congress to act, despite looming defense cuts. Congressman Ryan and Mitt Romney should show some leadership to avoid these cuts instead of using our military budget to score a political point.”
But Ryan spokesman Michael Steel, who was involved in the debt-ceiling debate while working for House Speaker John Boehner, replied: “What Chairman Ryan voted for was bipartisan deficit reduction. The president instead went AWOL on the campaign trail and the result is the devastating defense cuts that the president insisted on.”
These automatic cuts to the defense industry (traditionally a top GOP constituency) and social programs (favored by Democrats) were supposed to serve as a "trigger" if Republicans and Democrats failed to come together to pass additional budget cuts under the legislation.
Ryan's remarks here at the Partnership for Defense Innovation lab at the All-American Business Park were not the first time he President Obama over these looming defense cuts. But it was -- by far -- the harshest tone Ryan’s taken towards Obama on the subject yet.
“The House has already passed, as well as the Senate, which has now been finally signed into law, bipartisan legislation saying put up or shut up. The president needs to show us how he plans on putting this in place if he is not going to help us pass legislation preventing it in the first place, so we’re now waiting for that answer,” Ryan said. “The president needs to show us how he plans on putting this in place if he is not going to help us pass legislation preventing it in the first place.”
The legislation the Congressman was referring to is the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, which passed both chambers in July 2012 with bipartisan support demands that the president show how it would carry out the defense cuts.
While Ryan has never served in the U.S. military, he made clear his close ties to the men and women who defend the nation on a daily basis.
From inside his blue sport coat, Ryan pulled out a white card to show the roughly 100-person crowd. The card contained the names of fallen military personnel from Wisconsin.
“I carry this card in my pocket. I've carried it with me for years. I don't really talk about this often,” he said. “It's the men and women who have lost their lives, the men who have lost their lives in Wisconsin. I've talked to these families, been at the funerals. It's the ultimate sacrifice.”
And he transitioned to the defense cuts.
“My childhood friend was a brigade commander here at the 82nd,” Ryan said. “He and I are very close and he would email me what was happening. The kind of sacrifices and the moral changes that occur when these kind of looming defense cuts occurred.”
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and don't the English have an amazing handle on the English language! I think he's refreshing and GREAT!
Off topic---Romney's latest excuse for not releasing his taxes is the lamest yet....according to Parade magazine, Romney said,it's because the amount he tithes to the Mormon church is a private thing........except of course, for the fact that both he and Ann have already told us how much they tithe. If it's different from what they told us...1) why'd they lie and 2) why not just black out what they tithed. I don't care what they gave their church or any other charitable donation they made.
I would get annoyed at Romney's BS, but it comes so thick and fast nowadays, it just is not worth it.
I assume Obama's campaign are taking into account the fact that no matter what Romney says it will have no effect on the trajectory of the campaign. Obama will have to beat him. Romney is not going to blow it himself, regardless of how much it seems that he should be done.
We are not going to see any returns from Romney beyond the 2010 and 2011 ones. Apparently, whatever heat he is taking now is fine with him in compared to the heat he would get if he were to release the returns. That's his calculation.
So, let's move on.
Apparently, whatever heat he is taking now is fine with him in compared to the heat he would get if he were to release the returns
Super - There's gotta be some really juicy stuff in there to be that defiant about showing them.
-
O&Joe 2012
Never try to make sense of a guy that flip flops a couple times on issues before he gets out of bed in the monring. Willard needs to do a conservative opinion poll before he decides what to have for breakfast.
I think you're right that he thinks that what's in his returns is more dangerous than not releasing them; but, we're not going to move on. We're going to keep up the pressure---after all, we're all just small-minded people, we don't have a lot else to do.
We will never see RoMONEY's tax returns. Its because he didnt pay any taxes for 10 years. Period. And maybe a few other things he doesnt want us to know.
I presume Ryan is also concerned about the adverse economic impact of the non-defense cuts scheduled for sequestration as well? No? Huh. Well, that's odd. It's almost like he doesn't really care about the economy at all, and rather is just pushing a partisan political agenda. Nah, that can't be right.
You caught that too!
Those cuts were put in there to get congress to do it's job. They failed epically and now the budget guru wants to blame the president??? Blame the tea party for their no compromise attitude, that is why the talks failed. Most people that have a clue realize this.
We don't have a need for infantry and armored divisions to fight the war on terror.
Yes, we need a good standing army, but we need to focus our expenditures, which is a lot cheaper cost wise, on:
Increased covert and surveillance operations
Elite teams of Special Forces
And lots of Drones
Battleships and tanks are useless when it comes too chasing down some little @!$%#s wearing explosive underwear.
Where are the tax returns Mitt ? Its not going away . Having Queen Ann blather about us "You people " is not very convincing .
Paul Ryan is still in the congress so why don't he go back to work and get something passed since he is so worried about it. He and his fellow republicans voted against everything the president put on the table because they did not want this president to succeed. That is the truth.
That would violate the pledge he agreed to on the DAY President Obama was sworn in . Cannot be having that .
Republicans Swear pledges to anyone , EXCEPT , the American People .
BTW , Your Religious CULT does NOT make you an American .
Lmao "baptists , catholics , mormans southern baptists , pretty much any cult that believes in the bible as written by Constantin . You sky folks call it the king james , VERSION. Ever wonder why its a VERSION ?
Ok , Its because you left OUT those other 600 Commandments . Also it appears Judas was a prophet .
Who knew ?
R & R are lying as usual, boy blunder does not even have the authority to lie yet but he still does. Vets are getting shafted by R&R&Rs and they want more money to just feed their CEOs in the contractor business. Republicans are out to destroy the poorer 100 million Americans in any way they can and will take money from them just to pretend they are buiding up the military. R&Rs are just propped up by paranoia and hallucinations, just like their Johnsons need to be propped up by ED meds.
I find it astounding when I read another outright, blatant LIE from Romney-Ryan. Ryan completely misrepresents these defense cuts which he actually voted for as something Obama wanted. Nothing could be further from the truth.
These defense cuts were put on the table along with cuts to the social safety net and eduction funding in a 50/50 split that was simply a last minute compromise ("interim" Budget) between Republicans and Democrats guaranteeing that they would pass a new budget before this BOGUS one goes into effect. This deal was given to the TEA-PARTY in exchange for their voting to increase the debt ceiling, thus avoiding a threatened government shutdown last year.
Both Democrats and Republicans will pass a different budget because they both hate this one and would never let it go into effect. The Tea Party understood this. Rep. Ryan has to understood this too. Everyone in DC knows this. Rep. Ryan, the House Republicans Budget Chairman, certainly played a role in crafting and approving this "we will do something better later" Budget. And he voted for it as the HOUSE BUDGET CHAIRMAN, a prominent leader of Republicans in the House.
LIE, RYAN, LIE. SEE RYAN RUN. Here's a guy who is a LOUSY LIAR.
Worse than that, he is using this interim Budget (which will be replaced with different, well-crafted one), to scare people about the future of America. To scare our soldiers about their future. He knows exactly what this Budget is, a poison pill budget that will never go into effect.
What is wrong with cutting defense? The common military personnel do NOT get the money anyway. It is not right to run up these massive deficits to make some rich man richer.
So we have all these soldiers serve us during our two wars and then lay offsome of them, so they can join the ranks of the unemployed. These budget cuts are unrealistically high. They will send our economy back into recession. Our banks, our middle class, many small businesses, and housing market need more time to recover from the last recession. These cuts would ravage our already weak economy.
I would support offering soldiers other work positions such as Coast Guard between here and Cayman Islands, Forest service employees, National Emergency Response workers. We really do need to keep people working.
I think it is crazy to think about sitting a bunch of people down on their butts (out of work) and pretend that somehow our economy is better off. Before man invented money, people worked. Generally, the harder they worked, the more they had in goods and food production. In service and military occupations, the more they did something, the better they got at it.
Sitting a bunch of people down on their butts is a poor solution to essentially a financial problem. The rich have too much wealth(their tax rate is at an 80 year low) and cannot use it all because sales and business growth are slow. The middle class, buried in debt (loaned to them by the rich), cannot afford to buy as much as business wants to sell them. Until business sells more, the rich have nothing to throw their money at, so they can park it in Treasury bonds until the economy grows faster. They can also pay the higher tax rate they paid in the 90's when our economy prospered and grew.
When the economy is growing faster, employment goes up, sales go up, government revenues go up, budget deficit goes down. Costs of government also go down as less people are on unemployment, food stamps, welfare. They can get jobs in a growing economy.
Austerity just won't work. It will send us into recession causing more damage to housing market, businesses just hanging on, and then the rest of us.
As to defense contractors. Again, you can look at this as just money, but it is also people working at good jobs, spending their incomes in their town supporting local merchants, etc.
We cannot do sudden drastic cuts to government spending without costing lots of people their jobs, their income, hurting the housing market, the banking industry (more bad loans)/. and on and on. end result -recession with lots of damage to people's lives.
However, we probably need less weaponry when we're not at war with anyone (hopefully, soon). So, having defense contractors work on other things like electrical grid upgrade and other projects that our country needs would make a smoother, less damaging transition than just shutting them down.
Didn't I just hear Ryan (and his supporters on this vine) complaining about the loss of jobs with defense cuts?
But....government doesn't create jobs! Only the Job Creators create jobs. Ok, they're all in China...
Will you guys just make up your minds?
George Bush INCREASED miltary spending by almost 50 percent during his reign. Where did he get the money for it? He passed NO tax to pay for it. I hear military personnel complaining they dont have enough to live on. That money is NOT going to where it SHOULD.
I want to know how MUCH those generals make. As I read, John Kennedy was SHOCKED at how EASILY they were willing to drop a bomb and kill thousands. EASILY.
Ryan has to promise to make those big shots that supply the military with items overpriced 10 times what they are worth in business. They are his NEW BEST friends.
They refuse to pass a war/military tax. If we are to have constant war (what generals and republicans want), PASS a tax. All the republicons will be in favor of it. They are the "true" patriots.
Quit spending medicare and social security funds on war.
Quit running up the deficit (which the middle class pays for and the rich get rich on).
Pass a war tax or quit starting wars. No more deficits to help the rich.
Ryans promise is worth SPIT.
i have to fire , my employee , he is a republican . he is also not very smart .
no bill he is not . i might hire a GOOD carpenter . Are you in new port richey , fla ?
Let me be clear . We get IN the water , there are snakes and gators . You might get bit .
good night folks i am off for a coupla days . have fun .
exception for bill . hmm after a few hundred you can breath very well . try it . Who knew fire ants live actu8ally underwater in "cat tails "
laterz then , have fun .
“Defense spending is not half of all federal spending, but its half of the cuts approximately in the sequester...." Mr Ryan, what kind of lunatic budget analyst are you? Since when does every cut in a budget automatically have to be equal in % across the board??? That is insanity.
What you're saying is that if you found an expense w/ an ROI that doesn't justify the $$ being allocated, you'd only cut it proportionately to the rest of the cuts even if it's results didn't justify the amount of funding???
And we're suppose to trust you and Mitt to do the right thing w/ our tax $$; right! Don't think so. I don't want you anywhere near my budget analysis team.
Even more reprehensible Mr Ryan; you've using an issue that is very dear to the hearts of many Americans, including our president who totally supports our military, to advance you and your party's political aspirations. You sir are an immoral opportunist w/ no integrity. You and Mitt do not deserve to be allowed anywhere near the White House.
The nerve of you to attempt to appeal to and take advantage of real American hero's (something you know nothing about), is about as disgusting as it can get. The military I know don't trust you and Mitt any further than they can throw a B-2 Stealth bomber. You do know how far that is don't you sir?
@Murphy Andrews
And you know all this from what...TV..FAUX news. How do you know the deficit is at 1 trillion ? crystal ball maybe? have you seen the books? Do you even know how the accounting works in the federal deficit? It's amazing how the media spins something and it becomes the holy bible to silly nut jobs who regurgitate anything they hear because it feeds their paranoia. This economy is seeing the fruits of job outsourcing that's been in high gear since 1992 (I worked in China and Asia for the last 14 years) Almost every American company "contracts" the cheap labor in Asia. So yeah, welfare is at its highest ..because all the fricking manufacturing jobs are over seas. But Silly little racist like Murphy wants to copy and paste everything he /she finds on google then rehash it back here.
outsider,,,Idiot, the CBO has called that one and even this fake news outlet like msDNC backs up my 8.4% unemployment as the food stamp and welfare numbers. Just because you are an obamazombie TWIT with blinders on and your head in the sand and too STUPID to realize the tens of thousands of jobs we can instantly bring to this country alone in oil production less the easeing of prices for the American citizens. If you would quit getting all your lies from sargent "slut" shultz and rick maddcow, possibly you might be someone worthy of the air we breath. Why are you democrats such a racist against anything that makes sense in this world? PINHEAD!
Outsider,,,I had just looked at your past posts and as usual, you are the type to call others what you are really. Racist??? Compare your last posts to mine and it shows almost all of yours to have some kind of class warfare in them. Just like the democrat party. Live on class and race warfare when you dare not to run a pitiful stinkin record!!!!!!
Paul Ryan is such a FRAUD. He doesn't care at all about reducing the deficit, only about cutting taxes for the wealthy and axing social programs that don't fit within his narrow, backwards, Randian ideology.
It was Ryan who rejected Bowles-Simpson ($4 trillion in deficit reduction)
It was House Republicans who rejected the Gang of Six solution ($3.7 trillion in deficit reduction)
It was House Republicans who rejected the President's Grand Bargain ($4 trillion in deficit reduction). Even the Senate Republicans agreed to the Grand Bargain.
It was the Super Congress who had the final say on what the $2 trillion in cuts would be.
Remember, Republican media said House Republicans rejecting the Grand Bargains $4 trillion in deficit reduction would go down as one of the biggest mistakes in the Republican party.
As the Congress of 2011-2012 has always done, it repeatedly rejected every single bi-partisan solution.
As the House of 2011-2012 (controlled by Republicans) has always done, they accept something than become psycho and decide they should reject it.
Remember, 4 years ago, Congressional Republicans said their #1 priority is to make Obama a one term President. If Congressional Republicans cared about Americans and jobs for Americans, that would have been their #1 priority. Instead, they choose politics over Americans.
We spend more now in real dollars than we did when Eisenhower left office, at the height of the REAL cold war. Governments don't create jobs remember, phony azz conservitives, or just defense industry jobs. A bunch of arm chair generals that have never read a dam book. Mullin Chairman of JCS said the greatest threat to this country is our economy. You ever looked at a globe, see those two oceans and we still have 3 to 5 thousand nukes, nobody is after us. 11 aircraft carrier task forces for what when UK and France are going to share ONE. Lets quit subsidizing peoples defense, all of Europe, the whole dam world we have done it since since the end of ww2. Ryan is a mental midget because he is just like the rest of the scum that has been there, just pork for his state. I live in WI Oshkosh factory just got a billion dollar contract to re-outfit humvees. You dumb azz arm chair generals read a couple of history books ok, EVERY empire destroyed themselves by over extending themselves militarily. Bring the troops home, guard the southern border, and do "Nation-Building" here.
So, the religious HYPOCRITE GUNSLINGER Ryan is IN BED with John McCain and their MILITARY CORPORATES! Just what we need, MORE WASTED MONEY ON WEAPONS! Let's talk this JERK into SPENDING THIS MONEY on EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN, then we won't have to be worrying about WARS!
Once a political puppet, ALWAYS A POLITICAL PUPPET! Giving the 99% American People's tax dollars away to their corrupt Republican corporate MONARCHY! TO HELL WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, LIKE exlax ETCH-A-SKETCH says, "the POOR can take care of themselves"!!
99% American People, VOTE & vote 100% STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC and let's rid our selves of their BLATANT CORRUPTION once & FOREVER!!
Oh, but Ryan says, " People we must take back the America we know!!" That would be another conflict, probably Iran throw another 3 trillion away, with tax cuts, and cut entitlements so the low income and poor pay for it. And call it FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY!!!!!!!! The clear choice is Obama. Don't fall for the FOX Shaun Hannity lies.
That's RIGHT give the 99% American People's TAX DOLLARS to John McCain's MILITARY CORPORATES instead of spending their HARD-EARNED TAX DOLLARS on FREE EDUCATION for our children!
99% American People, you can see why it is so importan to vote and VOTE 100% STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC!! Let's use OUR HARD-EARNED TAX DOLLARS on our CHILDREN, the hell with religious HYPOCRITE GUNSLINGER Ryan and his corrupt Republican MILITARY corporates supporting him and John McCain!! A total waste to the American People Society! We need peace, NOT WARS!!