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FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. – U.S. Rep. Jim Himes and more than 100 other members of Congress have sent a letter to President Barack Obama supporting his threat to veto legislation that would overturn scheduled defense cuts.
The letter was prompted by legislation, introduced by a group of senators led Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., which would begin repealing the cuts.
“Cuts will always be difficult, but we’ve already agreed to these,” Himes said. “A deal is a deal, and any serious effort to reduce the deficit absolutely – mathematically – must include cuts to defense.” Himes, a Democrat, serves the 4th District, which includes lower Fairfield County.
Automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs, scheduled to take effect in 2013, were signed into law as part of the agreement last summer to raise the federal debt ceiling. McCain’s legislation would partially roll back the defense cuts only.
The letter says: “With the failure of the Super Committee to reach a deficit reduction agreement, we write in full support of your view that the sequester scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2013, should not be repealed or amended absent an agreement to reduce deficits that meets or exceeds the amount to be sequestered. The failure of Congress to act must have consequences. We stand ready to work with you over the next year to put America back on a firm financial footing and will vote to sustain your veto of any effort to repeal all or part of the scheduled sequester.”
Amazing to see Himes actually stand up for reigning in the war budget, especially considering how one of the last things he did in 2011 was vote yes on NDAA 2012 which spends over $660 Billion on military, including 800+ US military bases on foreign soil and military personnel deployed in 150 countries simultaneously. But even now, as Himes "stands up" for cutting the military, we see it is wrapped up in a lot of other mandatory cuts that are not described or mentioned. I'm sure there is waste to cut but tax rates are already at historically low rates, and the rich are sharpening their knives for Social Security and any other program that costs them money.
The underlying problem is Himes and the Republicrat political system bought by Wall Street have used "free trade" to export over 40,000 factories and 6 million jobs. An off-shored economy means they sold out our future for the short-term gains of corporate owners. It means financial services tried to make up the difference in loss of mfg and they did it with pyramid schemes of debt swaps etc (and growing middle class debt to hide the funneling of wealth up). Now that that tide has gone out, we see America has been swimming without a swimsuit.
If Himes and the rest want to "put America on firm financial ground" they should replace free trade with a MADE IN USA TRADE POLICY and a national project to convert to 100% National Renewable Energy Independence as a centerpiece of our FULL EMPLOYMENT POLICY. Then Social Security benefits could be increased and the retirement age lowered, and a National Health Insurance every medical provider must accept. Pay for it by eliminating the cap on SS tax (presently just over the first $100,000 of income) and restoring Eisenhower-era income tax rates (when the middle class paid only 20% of income in overall taxes, instead of 40% now --because the real wealth was taxed, as it should be) and cutting the military 80% to make us a normal country that uses its diplomats. That would still leave us at 8% of the world's military spending, plenty to protect our borders.