The defense sequester dance is not very believable
by digby
Perhaps I’m naive for thinking that the Republicans will ever allow cuts to defense, but I am enjoying the show their putting on to pretend that it’s really a battle.
It’s an unusual kabuki dance to be sure, with the Democrats out there as the defenders of the military and some kooky Tea Partiers acting as if they’re anxious to cut spending. Leon Panetta is chewing the scenery in the role of Chicken Little:
Looming across-the-board budget cuts will present the U.S. military with the most significant readiness crisis in more than a decade unless quick action is taken to avoid the spending reductions, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned during testimony Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
If the billions of dollars in cuts are allowed to stand, Panetta said, he would have to throw the country’s national defense strategy “out the window,” and the United States would no longer be a first-rate power. “This will badly damage our national defense and compromise our ability to respond to crises in a dangerous world,” Panetta said.
But seriously, this is nonsense. The sequester will never stand because of these defense cuts. It’s nearly unthinkable that either party would allow it. What’s more likely is that the Republicans will do what they’ve been doing all along — waiting for the Democrats to offer up more and more non-defense domestic spending cuts and then reluctantly agree to take some and then kick the can again or perhaps agree to the whole deal. It’s even possible they might take yes for an answer on the “entitlements” this time. Certainly the White House will be even more anxious for them to agree to major cuts in the out years (which is the role “entitlement” cuts play in all this) so as not to cause a contraction in our still weak economy in the short run. (That’s also Paul Ryan’s ace in the hole with his upcoming 10 year budget.)
Obviously, I can’t tell the future, and maybe we’ll see the big cuts to defense we’ve always dreamed of. Stranger things have happened. But I really doubt it. When both parties and the president really don’t want something it’s hard to see how it happens.
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