Slash Social Security, but how dare you not give ever more to the MIC.
Rumsfeld warns Congress on defense cuts during war
By Will Dunham
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday said he had a hard time believing Congress would want to cut the Pentagon budget during wartime amid moves by lawmakers to scale back President George W. Bush's 2005 defense spending request.
"We believe that our budget is a sound one," Rumsfeld said in an interview with Reuters.
"And I have trouble believing that the Congress would really want to make any significant cuts in the Defense Department or the Homeland Security Department during a war. I just think that the members of the House and the Senate will, over time, consider that, debate it, discuss it, and decide not to do it."
The United States has ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and is waging what Bush calls the global war on terrorism.
The Senate Budget Committee, headed by Oklahoma Republican Don Nickles, on Wednesday disclosed a budget blueprint for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, that would cut the defense budget proposed by Bush by $7 billion. The proposal comes as the Republicans who lead Congress confront mushrooming federal budget deficits during an election year.
Rumsfeld signaled disapproval of congressional moves to scale back the defense budget proposed last month.
He said, "I don't know what will finally be decided, but I had heard that there were some in the Congress that are putting pressure on the defense budget and the budget for homeland security." Rumsfeld noted that the spending proposal that Bush sent to Congress is the one "he believes is the right budget for the country."
Congressional budget legislation is not binding, but is used to create parameters that appropriation committees are supposed to follow when they pass actual spending bills.
The White House on Feb. 2 proposed a $401.7 billion defense budget in a plan that would steadily increase military spending to $487.8 billion in five years despite growing deficits.
forbes.com
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