Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told U.S. Marines and sailors on Friday that Congress would be irresponsible if it doesn't act to prevent drastic military budget cuts.
In a visit to this amphibious assault ship off the Southern California coast, he also said Afghanistan is making progress against the Taliban but Iran remains a potential threat to the U.S.
A budget agreement reached last August calls for defense cuts of $487 billion over a decade, a reflection of the drawdown of two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the pressure to reduce the nation's deficit.
The failure of Congress to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in savings means automatic cuts of more than $1 trillion next January to defense and domestic programs.
Congress "did a stupid thing" in risking the $50 billion in across-the-board reductions that would kick in next January, Panetta told hundreds of Marines and sailors.
"What they essentially did was to put a gun to their heads and to the heads of the country," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment