GOP Lawmakers: Defense Cuts Too Deep

House Republican defense overseers criticized the Pentagon’s planned force-structure changes and reductions outlined last week to meet the $487 billion in defense cuts over the next 10 years, saying the proposals simply go too far. “To be clear, the impacts of these cuts are far deeper than Congress envisioned in the Budget Control Act because of strategic choices the President has made,” said Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), House Armed Services Committee chairman, in a statement. McKeon and fellow Republicans argued that the proposed cuts would leave America vulnerable. “The President’s defense strategy embraces weakness by a thousand cuts,” said Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), HASC readiness panel chair, in a release. “[Chinese] admirals will welcome the news that the President has no plans to catch up to China’s 60 attack submarines nor to invest in a missile defense system that can rival China’s mounting arsenal of missiles. North Koreans will feel more secure as America prepares to dismiss almost one in six soldiers. Tehran will be pleased that one-third less American cruisers are slated to patrol the world’s sea lanes.”