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Six Republican Senators unveiled their legislation yesterday to roll back the defense trigger from the debt limit deal, replacing the $600 billion in savings with other cuts. However, this is not a $600 billion deal; in fact, the Senators, led by John McCain, only delayed the first year of defense cuts at a cost of $109 billion. They achieved this through pay freezes and cuts to federal employees. Considering that members of the military are also federal employees, you’re basically sparing one set of federal employees for another.
Together with five other Republican senators — including minority whip Jon Kyl, a member of the dissolved supercommittee — McCain unveiled a bill to eliminate the triggered defense cuts for a year. The legislation would replace the $109 billion in cuts that are scheduled to happen in 2013 with cuts to the federal workforce instead: It extends the federal employee pay freeze through June 2014 and “restricts federal hiring to only two employees for every three leaving, until the size of the federal government workforce is reduced by five percent,” which is expected to save $127 billion within 10 years.
The Senators are banking on a recent CBO study showing that federal workers make more than private sector workers. This is a dubious study for a variety of reasons (it’s more true at the low end than the high end, for example). But the bigger problem for the McCain gang is that this is a pay-for that Republicans in the House want to use to offset the payroll tax cut. And you can’t use it twice. Similarly, the House voted earlier in the week to extend the federal pay freeze, a key part of this option. So someone over there has to figure out what attaches to what.
The GOP leadership does appear to be on board with breaking the debt limit deal, at least on the defense cuts. But this isn’t going to get resolved until this year’s lame duck session, in all likelihood.
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funny. You know what everyone’s going to say, right? heh
Thanks DDay. Nice to see the GOP protecting jobs in the People’s Republic of China Counterfeit parts from China found on Raytheon, Boeing systems
Thanks, DDay, for all you do.
I read this:
and NAFTA immediately came to mind.
And if memory serves, the most recent action* taken by Congress was in the last lame duck session. Are they consciously ignoring their work and simply waiting for lame duck sessions to pass legislation?
* In fairness, they did manage to delete the fourth amendment by codifying the indefinite detention of Americans without due process. So I guess they did something!
I wonder if Wall Street, the MIC et al support this “lame duck” approach to legislation? I suspect they do as it simplifies the process of buying the politicians.
When politicians are bought before the election, the payments have to be divided in hundreds, even thousands, of payments less than $2500. BUT when the politicians are bought after the election, it’s much easier to simply get the total asking price, create the position and have HR onboard them.
But despite the simplicity of legally paying the pols via payroll expense, do lame duck votes actually increase the gross cost of doing MOTU business?
I Bet O and the Dems Kabuki and / or cave on this one in favor of the MIC (Military Industrial Complex).
Today’s trash Gannett outet ran an indignant front page story on millitary pensions. The story acknowledged that in 2007 the law was changed to allow the brass to collect more in pension than they did in exchange for staying in beyond the usual 26 years. They were particularly steamed about someone collecting $272,000. Almost casually they mentioned that oh, this was a four star “officer” (i.e. admiral or general) with 43 years of service. They talked about the average pensions for 3 and 4 star officers and seemed to say that the military was sucking down money on pensions.
Not, you know, on Halliburton or anything.
they have to protect the defense contrators who bought and paid for them
Could save a lot of USG money by firing congress & POTUS.
Republicans take great pleasure in firing people. They’re misanthropes.
Moliere’s Misanthrope.
Federal workers “make more” because they get health care and retirement benefits that have long been stripped away from private sector workers. Next the GOP will be complaining that Federal workers only have to work 40 hours and 8 hours a day and have to be 18 or older.
It’s not as though workers had any power over their lives before.
Check it out
Sorry. I don’t read Juan Cole since I found out he works for CIA and I stopped reading Taylor Marsh when she became a Hillary ranter.
US military spending $1.3T per year.
China military spending $150B per year.
Russia military spending $100B per year.
Keep in mind EU spends more than Russia and Japan, Korea and Taiwan almost as much as China.
Obama’s new Oman base of 40,000 troops “home” from Iraq are not at “home” Oman with 100,000 Halliburton support workers. Obama’s new 2,500 Marines and 10,000 Halliburton support workers in Australian outback…in case China invades Australian outback.
US should cut military by 50%, free up $500B per year and use it to cut US oil use which eliminates the Middle East threat of Iran etc. which US military uses as the reason it needs to be 10 times what China spends on military…as China kicks US alternative energy companies into bankruptcy.
US should be closing all US overseas bases.
Fine list of hortatories.
Maybe so. And one reason could be that finally someone just got around to saying “Base Realignment and Closure” (BRAC) commission. I was waiting for that.
It’s due, though, since they last met in 2005. Theoretically political meddling is kept to a minimum. The reality may be that meddling is just kept out of sight by bipartisan mutual agreement.
And persuasive arguments based on facts.
So this has to be the basis of every Democrats campaign in the general election this year, the Republicans can’t be trusted to keep their word. this agreement is 6 months old, and instead on negotiating in good faith, in the “supercongress” they are trying to back out the agreement now. When will Americans hold the current Republican Party for contending we can have our cake, after they have eaten it?
Cole scrubbed one of my comments — which was very respectful, but informed, on the seemingly noncontroversial topic of industrial wind turbines. My contrarian (to him apparently) view didn’t comport with his fairy tale line.
Tell’s me a lot about Mr. Cole.
I agree. I think Barry will see this as another opportunity chock-filled with bipartisany goodness.
If we’re going to downsize the number of soldiers/marines can we also downsize some of the 700,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department as well?
Also, change the name back to the ‘Department of War’ to reflect its real role.