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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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New GOP slogan: "A chicken in every pot, and a carrier in every port."
Incredible...!
In this time of massive debt, where our military's budget is equal to 41% of the entire planet's expenditure on weapons, and our infrastructure here at home is crumbling...? We have this tool saying, "He's going to restore the budget cut from the Defense Department".
Really? For this year, our Defense Budget sits at about $711 Billion dollars (41% of world spending). The Chinese Defense budget is at $143 Billion (about 8% of world spending). Russia is at $71 Billion (4% of world spending).
WHY??? WHY must we spend THIS MUCH money when there are other things to spend it on. I won't even say all the favorite targets of the Republicans like welfare, food stamps, or health care. Let's just talk about moving those defense workers into infrastructure jobs. Building new highways, constructing nationwide high-speed rails, rebuilding our crumbling bridges, working on blighted urban areas to restore their appeal and functionality (anyone seen Detroit lately? Sad.).
So much to do in our OWN COUNTRY and Romney/Ryan would like to spend your hard-earned, scarce tax dollars on more tanks, carriers, and weapons for this country which is already armed to the teeth well and above any other country in the world.
Insanity.
Conservatives and Libertarians on this thread: The election of Romney is under control. Do not be distracted by the left. Obama one and done just like Carter yet worse. The important issue is the Senate! We must repeal Obamacare before 2014 when it fully kicks in. It will become an entitlement bigger than Medicare or SS.
THe Courts bent over backwards to allow it to stand so it must be repealed by Congress! Concentrate on the Senate Races; Ryan and Romney are the common sense choice-trust the electorate
Yep... Vote for Romney and Ryan if you want yourself a piece of that America...
I guess we're going to play policeman for the rest of the world forever. Why don't they pay for their own defense? Why is it our job to intervene when they decide to kill each other?
I'm sorry, but our defense budget is bloated beyond belief. The private contractors are ripping us off big time. Why not just tell them that we'll pay them 40% less than we were paying them before and they'll have to make do. Or maybe we can stop ordering stuff we don't need, like the tanks the generals told them were unwanted and Congress voted to buy them anyway. Think a few Congressmen are getting a kickback on that deal? Just maybe? For crying out loud. We have enough military hardware to fight WWII and Korea and Viet Nam all over again without buying another thing.
Take care of our vets. Bring our soldiers home. Stop spending so damn much money on stuff we don't need. Have Ryan and Romney heard about the DEFICIT? Or do they just start twitching when the money ISN'T going to their rich buddies? The deficit only matter when you're spending the money on Americans, right?
Oh, bull s*it.
Defense contractors are some of the biggest lobbyists in Congress. Our troops need to come home from Afgan and militarize the Southern Border to stop the ongoing invasion of United States! We need to sell the extra tanks to the Arabs and let them use them against each other. We will never fight another tank war. Those days are over. Hand held tank missiles can take out a 3 million dollar tank with a 10,000 weapon. Afgan broke Russia by shooting down 2M dollar choppers with 10,000 stingers and they got quite a few 3 million dollars jets ! Defense contracting must be reworked as it is a loser for we the people. Romney is an expert at efficiency expert and he force Defense to tighten up . It is in his wheelhouse! Vote R&R-CHange we must have.
Representing Corporate Interests over all other interests.
No. He is a the titular face of mindless corporate greed. The only thing he's going to do is figure out, is how to get a slice of this pie.
...by putting in a man who knows how to hide his assets in off-shore accounts, avoids taxes, and guts businesses. Not exactly the change we're looking for, is it? Sounds like more of the same.
What I have been saying for a long time now. The Republican party IS NOT fiscally responsible like they claim, reduce the debt they claim. On what they want to reduce the debt on. Entitlements for sure which directly affects Americans. But believe me, with the likes of John Bolton amongst their ranks they wouldn't blink a second of invading Iran and spending another 3 trillion. Let's make sure tax breaks are taking place at the same time thus escalating debt. No, no,no, they are going to take entitlements from Americans so they can pay for their costly conflicts, good ole Ryanism.
Vote Obama people, don't fall for the FOX news rhetoric.
It's the one thing even the rich can't afford on their own... yet. Of course they want a bigger military, it allows them to run around the world putting their money in secret accounts, and having a guarantee that their money won't be confiscated.
Obama is running a MEAN, SLEAZY Campaign! Just like against Hillery!
It is the Chicago way. The Daley Machine on a National level:(
And that would be American Presidential Politics since 1780?! I'll take you to Fox and show you Huckabee slithering diarrhea from his mouth that is 10% truth, if your want SLEAZY. The guy who is "suppose" to be a born again Christian" spewing hatred from his mouth, but he gets a handsome paycheck from FOX so he can't follow the line Jesus taught, only say things that are uplifting and encouraging. He has to clearly separate himself from New Testament teaching for that paycheck!!
So rather then taking my tax dollars and trying to create some jobs you are going to give more of my money to death and world conflict .Then you will tell me medicare is broke and Obama created a welfare state. Huh, thats just some dog crap! All so you can get rich? BUT WHAT ABOUT AMERICA MORON! You know we the people. Yeah typical of the right wing.
You got it, FOX is right, we do have a clear choice!!
Obama 2012
You just hit the core, of why I left the Repulican ranks after Ronald Reagan, I finally saw that they are not the "fiscally" responsible party they claim anymore than Democrats are.Reagan couldn't balance the budget in his 8 years, Bush didn't do it either.
Obama 2012... the better of the two evils.
You nailed that exactly, intead of using that money spent on 2 unwinnable wars, that money should have been used to train American workers in technology fields to compete on a global market. Instead, we spent trillions chasing renegade cultic jihadists up into the Bora Bora mountains. Taking down an Iraqi leader only to bring about the reinsurgent poplularity of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, guess what, someone had to surface, you Independents out there, you do have a clear choice this NOVEMBR
OBAMA 2012
Agreed, agreed, and agree! Former Republican going all in on Obama for 2012. Lesser of two evils is better than the greater of two evils.
...But... For 2016? Jill Stein in 2016!
Guys I voted Reagan, Bush 1 (he was actually a decent president), Clinton, Clinton (hand down the best governing president of my life time because he is a moderate and governed so), Bush (I apologize because Al Gore was just so damned weird, I didn't feel right about bush and ignored my gut), Kerry (only a braindead moron wold have voted for Dubs the second time), Obama and I have voted about 50/50 dem/gop for the house (100% dem for senate, can't afford juveniles in Senate)..............but I will never vote for another national GOP candidate unless they run out the right wing whackos and take it to a moderate party....not a chance.
Cutting taxes & regulations; spending trillions on the military industrial complex when we would be just as safe spending half; and giving subsidies to business when there is no clear benefit to our country is simply not an acceptable solution. The economy always does better under Dem leadership than Republicans, and if Obama is given another term that tradition will continue.
Very True.
Everyone has this preconceived notion of the "Welfare Queen" as some fat, lazy woman with a gaggle of illegitimate children surrounding her as she sits on her ass all day long, downing bon-bons, and yelling at the kids to shut the hell up because she's trying to watch Jerry Springer; However...
Corporate subsidies and bailouts eat up far more of our taxes than that Welfare Queen. Think about Farm Subsidies. In the actual world of welfare, the poorer you are, the more money you get from the state. Farm subsidies work differently, the larger corporate farm with the most assets tends to get a greater share of the farm subsidies. Therefore, 7% of the largest corporate farms in America get about 45% of the total Federal Farm subsidy money - Effectively slowly squeezing out the Mom-N-Pop farmers.
Walmart is a giant retailer, and one of the largest employers in this country. Do they need federal subsidies? Apparently they do. And they get them. They've even had land donated to them for shipping hubs (Florida), they've had the federal government pay for the recruitment and training of employees, and they've gotten the federal government to provide housing subsidies to their employees so Walmart could pay their employees less.
Let me repeat my last statement one last time: Walmart has engaged our Federal Government to assist their employees to get into HUD housing and to provide additional government support to their employees SO Walmart could pay their employees LESS.
Anyone bitching about Social Spending or about anyone's desire to cut the Defense Budget needs a friggin' dose of reality to smack them in the face...
YOUR COUNTRY is NOT your country anymore. It has been bought and sold by Corporate Interests and their Lobbying groups. Spend some time researching corporate "personhood" to find out that there are two classes of citizens in this country - Individual citizens and Corporate citizens - AND Corporate Citizens are front in line to have their issues heard and addressed by the country they've purchased. Corporate Lobbying is now the fourth arm of our three-part government of Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Lobbying is also becoming the most powerful branch.
Democrats and Republicans? They're just there as a smokescreen. Both parties equally bought. Both responsible for pointing their fingers at the other party and saying, "THEY... They destroyed this country. Elect us and we'll fix it"... All while the Corporations and their Lobbyists continue to sell off this country, divvy up the profits, and sink us all lower and lower into debt and poverty.
Welcome to the Corporate States of America.
Lies of the GOP & Paul Ryan TeaWackers, Mitt R. Bain, Citizens United and all the Alec corps : that pay off the Politician. Its all about the Wealthy getting richer and the middle class getting poorer.....They don't want to help the poor...Who are the one's that leach off the taxpayer. The Wealthy: they get welfare both for themselves an for the Corps. ...But it seems that the Wealthy get away with it ..They steal billions and the few poor steals a few thousands. So what does the GOP want, is Screw the MIddle Class to get even with the few. As I say its the me me me and F everyone else.... The failures of the Republicans party trying to take away SS & Medicare & Health care for Woman so they can give their wealthy Blackmailers more money...To hell with the Poor and Needy. Let them freeze in the winter and stave the Old and Babies,let them die from bad water, do away with the EPA and thats what you'll have, just like all you Tea baggers want...You make me sick with your Me Me Me altitude. Greedy and you all call yourself a REAL Christians, Mormans. What a laugh: Wake up...Sounds like Mitt!!!!!!Fuss up your tax Return
Is Paul and Romney gonna encourage their kids to enlist in the armed forces?
That's fitting, Ryan can call for 6 trillion dollar debt reduction over 10 years on entitlements, leaving the poor with no "safety net", Romney himself isn't worried about the poor, of course he's not. But, can't touch the military, by God no cutting any military budgets. That is why, people, we do have a clear choice in November.
Obama 2012
what a hypocrite and a jerk, the reason the defense cuts are in place is because the rethug controlled congress could not pass a budget by the deadline, the sad thing is that Ryan voted for the cuts when the agreement was reached and now he blames Obama for him and his party not doing their jobs for the American people. Liers and theifs is all they are.
please educate yourself on who controls congress. dont be a dummy. harry no budget reid. obama failed budget communist. ryan the fiscal negotiator, that the communists ignore to destroy this country. p.s the meltdown was caused by the dem controlled congress since 2006. duh!!!!
Things were better under Bush? Man are you deluded.
By Tim Shipman in Washington and Edmund Conway
11:33PM BST 27 Sep 2008
Comment
The financial system could face a meltdown of 1929 proportions unless US politicians succeed in their efforts for a $700bn rescue scheme, experts added.
The warning came as Republicans and Democrats met in Washington for a rare weekend debating session to attempt to seal agreement on the contentious plan, aimed at preventing a long-lasting recession in the US.
Officials close to Paulson are privately painting a far bleaker portrait of the fragility of the global economy than that advanced by President George W Bush in his televised address last week.
One Republican said that the message from government officials is that “the economy is dropping into the john.” He added: “We could see falls of 3,000 or 4,000 points on the Dow [the New York market that currently trades at around 11,000]. That could happen in just a couple of days.
“What’s being put around behind the scenes is that we’re looking at 1930s stuff. We’re looking at catastrophe, huge, amazing catastrophe. Everybody is extraordinarily scared. It’s going to be really, really nasty.”
We hear the condescending attitude towards women and we see the elitist mentality in their performance. It isn't just one of them as it is seen throughout their ranks and totally prevalent in their leaders. Mitt Romney is one of the elitist, loyal to their interests, by heritage and by financial status; he demonstrated that focus at Bain and in his complete history and he continually states it in all he says. They intend to "turn things around" on the backs of women and on the backs of the middle class; Romney has said as much and Ryan has demonstrated it in his budget, which advocates additional burden on the middle-class just to give more to the very wealthy. Listen to what they say, really listen and evaluate it, and watch their actions, objectively watch and see - they are cocksure as they pander to the 1% who provide the mega-millions for the constant propaganda aimed to con the 99%. There is no hope for the majority there, as there isn't any conscience or concern for the people, only subterfuge offered with their cocky confidence in the power, influence and money provided them - that being done with significant "strings" attached.
The Republican / Tea Party has become owned and controlled by "the money". There is no doubt about that as it is obvious in their complete concentration on serving "the money's" interests, in the total support provided to them (with demands for return considerations) and in their taking the people for granted as together (with the mega-millions being spent, SuperPacs, etc.) they aggressively concentrate on conning the people and manipulating public opinion. They simply insultingly take the voters for granted as if "pawns" in their private game of politics. "Conservative" is their deceptive word but unless it means feeding the insatiable "more" (never enough) appetite of the 1% while leaving the 99% struggling, it is only "smoke and mirrors". The people need to recognize the deception aimed to dupe and control them, reject the abundant propaganda that plays on their emotions and firmly reject the "puppet" politicians who will dutifully serve only "the money", in order to convey the message that they just won't be so easily used and abused.
hey rgiles. if you dont like the pandering to the job creators, create your own jobs and go ask one of the 100 million welfare recipients for a job
Great comment, RGiles, right on target. meanwhile rir has illustrated something systemic among today's Conservatives. We should all bow down to the new aristocracy and thank them for their generosity to patronize us with a job.
What that ignores is that it's DEMAND that creates jobs. It matters not how much money Sheldon Adelson has...without demand he CANNOT create a job. For that reason yes, welfare recipients create jobs...by spending their welfare checks. Public employees create jobs...by spending their paychecks. The middle class is the traditional economic engine of the American economy, and Conservative policies are starving that engine of fuel.
ahaha. obamas 2016 is a huge hit, despite the censorship of msm. bye bye obozo, you and your f-ing criminal buddies. hope holder is convicted of murder after he doesnt have obozo covering for him. im sure they will both be in jail come next year
Tomorrow they'll announce that the space budget will also be maintained. Romney hopes to match the landing of "Curiosity" on Mars with the launch of the probe "Ignorance" to the planet Kolob.
Thankfully, we have some leaders that understand the true role of government. America is with you, Mr. Ryan.
Apparently those were disconnected statements, because America is certainly NOT with Mr. Ryan;
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79607.html#ixzz24mI7K2Do
Paul Ryan: "I'm Catholic, I go deer hunting and I'm proud of it."
Please America, absolutely do not believe, trust or attribute anything Paul Ryan says as being the spokesperson for Catholicism in America; he speaks w/ forked tongue. Why:
- His budget proposal was deemed "immoral" by the US Conference of Catholic bishops.
- He lies when he says he is Pro-Life (he supports the death penalty - Pro-Life opposes abortion and cap pun).
- Paul Ryan is a "buffet Catholic"; he picks and chooses only the aspects of our faith (yes, I'm Catholic) that he agrees with, and those that are convenient and comfortable for him - everything else doesn't matter including matters of capital punishment, gun control, attending to the homeless and the hungry and the impoverished, etc, etc. And while he (we) has free-will to choose, there is only one set of beliefs in our faith as tough as they may seem at times. Being raised Catholic, he knows the difference. My advise to Paul Ryan - choose wisely sir.
Paul Ryan has introduced religion into this debate by announcing he is Catholic and how much it means to him. If he wants this debate to be on a secular level, then he needs to stop mentioning and lying about his religion/faith in open forums like he's doing now.
Paul Ryan knows what blaspheme is; he needs to stop using his faith in vein.
"Ryan vows to restore defense cuts" - the title is wrong. If you are restoring the defense cuts, then that implies the cutas are restored to take effect. The title should have read "Ryan vows to repeal defense cuts", a few words would be appropriate besides that - abolish, get rid of, rollback, abandon, etc etc, but 'restore' definately doesn't fit. Way to go.