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Ayotte sponsoring bill that would avoid defense cuts
WASHINGTON — The first year of cuts to domestic and defense spending mandated by the failure of a Congressional committee to agree on $1.2 trillion in cuts would be avoided under a bill partly sponsored by U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.
Under terms of the Budget Control Act passed last year, the automatic cuts, also known as sequestration, would have to reduce a total of $1.2 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. A 12-member committee of members of Congress failed to agree on alternatives to the automatic cuts, which will be split among domestic and defense spending.
The bill introduced by Ayotte and several other Republican senators would replace the first year of sequestration with other cuts in federal spending.
“I think we should prevent the whole sequestration from occurring because of what the Secretary of Defense and our military leaders say it would do to our national defense,” said Ayotte. “But we will deal with each year on its own.”
Last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the cuts would amount to “shooting ourselves in the head.”
According to Ayotte, the bill would extend the federal employee pay freeze through June 2014 and restrict federal hiring to only two employees for every three leaving, until the size of the federal government workforce is reduced by 5 percent, or about 115,000 employees.
“It would basically be paid for,” she said of the Republicans’ bill. “I’m still for making these reductions, just not through sacrificing our national defense.”
According to published reports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the GOP effort to undo sequestration “unfair” and vowed to oppose the legislation.
“I believe that an agreement is an agreement. I believe that a handshake is a handshake. Here we have more than a handshake — we have a law that is in place in our country,” Reid said at a news conference. “They should keep their word. That’s what the American people expect them to do, and that’s what I expect them to do.”
“Well, Harry Reid gives a lot of things the cold shoulder,” said Ayotte, who voted against the Budget Control Act, which she said was “another kick of the can down the road by Congress.”
Her colleagues from New Hampshire, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and Republican U.S. Reps. Charles F. Bass and Frank Guinta, all voted in favor of the bill.
Ayotte said she believes the bill will get support from Democrats, as it would also restore funding for entitlement programs and other spending favored by Democrats.
“We set it up in a way that we can get bipartisan support,” she said. “I would find it hard to believe that members from both parties would not want to ensure that we can protect our country.”
Under terms of the Budget Control Act passed last year, the automatic cuts, also known as sequestration, would have to reduce a total of $1.2 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. A 12-member committee of members of Congress failed to agree on alternatives to the automatic cuts, which will be split among domestic and defense spending.
The bill introduced by Ayotte and several other Republican senators would replace the first year of sequestration with other cuts in federal spending.
“I think we should prevent the whole sequestration from occurring because of what the Secretary of Defense and our military leaders say it would do to our national defense,” said Ayotte. “But we will deal with each year on its own.”
Last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the cuts would amount to “shooting ourselves in the head.”
According to Ayotte, the bill would extend the federal employee pay freeze through June 2014 and restrict federal hiring to only two employees for every three leaving, until the size of the federal government workforce is reduced by 5 percent, or about 115,000 employees.
“It would basically be paid for,” she said of the Republicans’ bill. “I’m still for making these reductions, just not through sacrificing our national defense.”
According to published reports, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the GOP effort to undo sequestration “unfair” and vowed to oppose the legislation.
“I believe that an agreement is an agreement. I believe that a handshake is a handshake. Here we have more than a handshake — we have a law that is in place in our country,” Reid said at a news conference. “They should keep their word. That’s what the American people expect them to do, and that’s what I expect them to do.”
“Well, Harry Reid gives a lot of things the cold shoulder,” said Ayotte, who voted against the Budget Control Act, which she said was “another kick of the can down the road by Congress.”
Her colleagues from New Hampshire, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and Republican U.S. Reps. Charles F. Bass and Frank Guinta, all voted in favor of the bill.
Ayotte said she believes the bill will get support from Democrats, as it would also restore funding for entitlement programs and other spending favored by Democrats.
“We set it up in a way that we can get bipartisan support,” she said. “I would find it hard to believe that members from both parties would not want to ensure that we can protect our country.”