The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to come up with a bipartisan plan to cut the nation’s deficit before its Thanksgiving deadline. “We are deeply disappointed that we have been unable to come to a bipartisan deficit-reduction agreement,” wrote committee co-chairs Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.) in a joint statement released Monday. The panel’s inability to reach consensus means that the Budget Control Act’s sequestration provision will trigger starting in Fiscal 2013, cutting up to a half trillion dollars from the Pentagon’s budget over the next 10 years on top of the $450 billion in reductions the White House already has asked the Defense Department to absorb. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a statement Monday, saying the committee’s failure “is a setback for the country’s efforts to achieve fiscal responsibility while protecting our national security.” He said the additional cuts would “tear a seam in the nation’s defense” and “lead to a hollow force incapable of sustaining the missions it is assigned.” He added: “Our troops deserve better, and our nation demands better.” (See also Doomsday Projections and The Ugly Truth.)
The Space Force has a new No. 2 officer, and U.S. Africa Command has its first ever leader from the Air Force. The Senate voted to confirm Lt. Gen. Shawn W. Bratton as Vice Chief of Space Operations and Air Force Lt. Gen. Dagvin Anderson as commander of AFRICOM on July 31.…
