With Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposing broad cuts in Pentagon spending, a new war over the president's budget has begun. While critics already are warning that the plan could compromise U.S. security, the greater resistance appears to be coming from lawmakers worried that the cuts threaten thousands of jobs in their states.
Senators and representatives from Georgia, Connecticut, Missouri and other states that house divisions for defense manufacturing were quick to rebuke Gates and said they would fight to retain the programs that have been job engines for their constituents.
"As we face one of the most trying economic times in recent history, it seems counter-intuitive to take steps that will eliminate high-paying, specialized jobs that are critical to our nation's defense," Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., said in a written statement that warned the Pentagon was "putting thousands of good manufacturing jobs at risk."
The concerns set up a much more concentrated and localized fight over Obama's budget. Republicans earlier complained that his budget blueprint would produce deep deficits and add unwieldy amounts of money to the national debt, but they kept their criticism of the plan relatively broad.
But with so many billions of dollars and thousands of jobs at stake in the Pentagon budget, lawmakers on the both sides of the aisle are taking a hard look at how the defense proposals uniquely will affect those who voted them into office. - FOX News Story
Not only are the job losses a concern, but anytime that you boost Government spending by the amounts that this Administration is, and cutting defense. You are risking the safety of all of us.
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