Levin and McCain: No Idea How Much Debt Deal Impacts DefenseAugust 05, 2011

 

Legislation to raise the debt ceiling was passed only after Congressional leaders agreed to a $2.1 trillion reduction in the budget over the next decade. How much of these cuts will come ultimately from the defense budget is still unknown, the two leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee told Foreign Policy magazine.

Senators Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, and John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, told Foreign Policy that the impact of the deal on the Pentagon will become clearer after lawmakers return from the summer recess. While the White House claims that the bill will lead to $350 billion in defense spending cuts over 10 years, Foreign Policy noted the bill actually says nothing about defense cuts. Instead, it sets limits on security spending, which would broadly affect Defense, State, USAID, the intelligence services, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Nuclear Security Administration and Veterans Affairs.

“I don't know where the White House gets the $350 billion number from,” said Levin. He added that the deal sets limits on the security budget only for the first two years. Given the broad definition of “security,” Levin said to expect “significant” cuts to the military budget. The Senate budget leaders still have to determine how much the Pentagon will receive in fiscal year 2012. Levin said the amount of the defense cuts remains “unknown.”

When McCain was asked about how much the debt deal would cut from the Pentagon budget, he answered, “I'm not sure.”

Interestingly, Republicans have traditionally defined “security” as only defense, intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security, according to Foreign Policy. But they are now using the Obama administration's definition of “security,” which includes diplomacy, intelligence, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and foreign aid, according to the article.

The projections for the defense spending levels will be unreliable at best, according to Winslow Wheeler, head of the Stross Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information. “The debt deal kicks the defense budget can down the road for this and future Congresses,” Wheeler told Foreign Policy. “People should not read precision into a political deal specifically designed to be uncertain and indistinct.”