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STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON DEFENSE BUDGET CUTS
January 26, 2012
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today released the following statement regarding the release of details of the Obama Administration’s proposed defense budget for Fiscal Year 2013 and its plan to achieve $487 billion in cuts in defense spending:
“Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta began today to reveal the first details of the impacts on the defense budget of a proposed $487 billion in cuts between now and 2021. Every American should be concerned about what these cuts mean to our ability to safeguard our national interests in a time of dynamic change around the world. As I have long said, the security challenges we face around the world today are more daunting than at any time in recent memory.
“The defense budget that the Obama Administration will propose ignores the lessons of history that we have learned time and again by imposing massive cuts to our force structure and the size of the Army and Marine Corps over the next five years. While I recognize that the Defense Department must play a responsible role in overcoming the debt and spending crisis we face, I am deeply concerned that the size and scope of these cuts would repeat the mistakes of history and leave our forces too small to respond effectively to events that may unfold over the next few years.
“My colleagues and I will carefully scrutinize this budget to ensure the United States can maintain its position of leadership in the world, on which the health of our economy and security depend.”
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