Panetta: Defense budget cuts will damage economy
by Lolita C Baldor, Associated Press
February 06, 2013 11:05 AM | 228 views | 1 1 comments | 2 2 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta delivers his speech to Georgetown University students and faculty on leadership and public service in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta delivers his speech to Georgetown University students and faculty on leadership and public service in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is laying out a grim list of spending cuts the Pentagon will have to make in the coming weeks that he says will seriously damage the country’s economy and degrade the military’s ability to respond to a crisis.

He is slamming members of Congress as irresponsible and willing to push the country off a fiscal cliff to damage their opposing political parties.

He says if Congress doesn’t pass a budget the Pentagon must absorb $46 billion in spending reductions in this fiscal year and will face a $35 billion shortfall in operating expenses.

The military services are warning of widespread civilian furloughs, layoffs and hiring freezes. The Navy says it will cease deployments to South America and the Caribbean and limit those to Europe.

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Samuel Adams
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February 07, 2013
Meanwhile, the president he serves gives federal workers a payraise and plans to decrease military pay and benefits. Tricare Prime, the choice of most military retirees, war widows and orphans, is being completely phased out by this coming fall (and there's zero media coverage on this huge issue) and Panetta pretends to care. But then he knows he's "short" and the incompetent Hagel is likely to take his place. Then we can all sit back and say good bye to our military as we knew it. Egypt, Iran, N.Korea and China all heart Obama.
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