Price: Only Place President Willing To Cut Spending Is On Armed Forces
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) has latched on to the meme we've been following here. "It seems the only place the President is willing to cut spending is on the armed forces," Price said. "The President's priorities are deeply flawed. We will fight to preserve this important program."
"This decision will not only cost thousands of jobs at a critical time, it is detrimental to the country's national defense capabilities," Price added.
Why all the bile?
Well, he (and most of the Georgia Congressional delegation) isn't pleased about the administration's plans to nix the F-22 raptor. The official reason is that the F-22 is supposedly crucial to the national security. But the real reason is that there's a Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta where thousands of Georgians work on the project.
So in comes a flood of criticisms. Price is joined, in somewhat less harsh terms, by Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), who released a joint statement citing some of the same concerns. (Chambliss is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.)
Rep. David Scott, a Democrat, is similarly disgruntled.
"Over the last few months, I have personally spoken with President Obama and Secretary Gates on several occasions about the future production of the F-22 aircraft and how cutting production would potentially impact our national and economic security," said Rep. Scott. "I am extremely disappointed that Secretary Gates chose to ignore the security concerns laid out by many experts and dismiss an immense opportunity to help secure jobs for the almost 100,000 employees nationwide that will undoubtedly be directly or indirectly affected by this loss in production. Specifically, the state of Georgia and my district may lose up to 7,000 jobs. This is a critical time in our nation's history and a time when we cannot afford to keep losing jobs."
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
As a Georgian, it pains me to have to correct you, but 'Shambliss' & 'Idiotson' are Republicans!
April 9, 2009 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why all the bile?
Comes from choking on the truth.
Just read the Financialization piece by Kevin Phillips, and in that light, this tiny man and his tiny gun just do not matter. The fall is far from over. He'll be lucky not go personally bankrupt himself.
April 9, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
These "fiscal conservatives" are willing to let children go hungry and have classrooms of 60 students but will have a cow if you try to cut "military welfare."
Why should we keep spending billions for weapons we don't need or that don't work just so some tool can keep a job? These people are supposed to be against "make work." Disgusting.
April 9, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
How hilarioius it is to watch these red-staters complain over the loss of wealth redistribution from the blue states.
April 9, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Saxby Shameless is NOT a Democrat!!!!
April 9, 2009 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hell either is Johnny Isakson. Unless the D in (D-GA) stands for "dick" or "dittohead"...
April 9, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Fixed, Walter. Thanks for catching that.
April 9, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
The M-I-C strategically spread out it's factories all across the country, sometimes being "the only job in town" in order to make it political suicide to attack the out-of-control Defense spending.
I have a feeling Obama didn't want this fight now, but this is Gates baby. Gates is retiring and is beholden to nobody - I just hope he doesn't hurt Obama in the process.
Puts on tinfoil hat - This is all a Rovian plan dammit!! He has Gates go after Defense spending to ensure Obama loses in 2012!!
April 9, 2009 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
So what's the tinfoil hat explanation for the equally congressional panty-bunching cuts in agricultural subsidies he proposed?
It's almost like he's trying to administer shock therapy to Congress by going on a sacred cow kill-spree.
April 9, 2009 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gotta love the GOP's defense-budget-as-economic-stimulus. As opposed to the actual stimulus, which they all opposed.
/eyeroll
April 9, 2009 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
In the middle of the battle and not knowing what the hell is going on.
I hope no one is listening.
April 9, 2009 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
But...But... The deficit. I thought the Republicans were uber deficit hawks now.
Oh and as I said to my Republican friend, "How does borrowing money from China to fund a military designed to fight China make us safer?". I'd like to propose a new military weapons system call the Anti-China Just Stopped Funding Our Dept Shield (AKA, the Cut Useless Military Projects bomb).
April 9, 2009 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The ACJSFOD Shield isn't catchy - too may constants and not enough vowels. Whereas the CUMP bomb has some hope - perhaps if it were the phoenic spell of a known word it'd have sticking power.
April 9, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I got it! CLUMP bomb = Cut Lousy Useless Military Project Bomb
April 9, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not bad sir.
How about the ACEBAD (Anti-China Ends Buying American Debt) Fighter?
April 9, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who cares what they do or say. No one under the age of 40 watches this kind of stuff in TV or reads it in the newspaper anyway. Maybe on the Daily Show I guess. They are just howling in the wind.
April 9, 2009 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
There should ACTUALLY be cuts.........this isn't it though.
April 9, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
"This decision will not only cost thousands of jobs at a critical time, it is detrimental to the country's national defense capabilities," Price added.
oh, so now the Repubs admit that the government does create jobs? And I love how any amount of spending, no matter how wasteful or unnecessary, is okay with these morons as long as it's labeled "defense".
April 9, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems to me Obama is wisely employing long-term strategy, which the Rs continue to counter with ineffective short-term tactics. It all starts with a basic realization: If the country pulls through or people believe that we are, at least, moving in the right direction, then Ds continue to gain ground in 2010, the senate ends up with 60+ Ds and Obama wins by a landsline in 2012. If things get worse, Obama knows that his chances are severely diminished, regardless of what he has or has not done, so he's going all in now.
The Rs' fatal mistake was their showing of their true colors early on the stimulus debate, then bragging about their complete rejection of the stimulus plan in the House, earning them the label of "The Party of No." Now Obama is doing everything to maximize that perception, by putting everything on the table at once: Health care? "No!" Energy independence? "No!" Global warming and environmental protection? "No!" So now Obama throws in: Immigration reform? "No!" Efficient reshaping of the military budget? "No!" The Rs remind me of the hapless marching band in “Animal House” after one of Belushi’s boys grabs the baton and leads them all into a dead-end alley, deftly ducking out of the way at the last minute.
The Rs may think they are scoring points on the daily news cycle, but McCain, the Rs and the voters all demonstrated in 2008 that voters are not following what the chattering class is saying, and instead are much more moved by larger trends. Like the band without a proper drum major, the Rs are leaderless, making it unlikely they will be able to change direction in time [even if you disregard the demographic trends that indicate the Rs are already stuck in that dead-end alley and marching toward that brick wall.]
April 9, 2009 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Georgia is home to a big aircraft manufacturer and is a HUGE depot for spare military parts for all branchs of the military and controls repair contracts with OEM vendors and so forth. So ... IF ... Obama was to cut military spending, Price would be correct. But he's not, so Price is blowing hot air. The real question is, do the people in Georgia believe him or can they add the numbers up and see for themselves what the real issue is?
April 9, 2009 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really interesting how little defense there is of the F-22 itself - I guess they can't defend the indefensable. Almost all the rhetoric is about the job losses. These are the same Republicans who are always calling for Federal spending freezes. They never seem to worry about the job losses that would result from that.
April 9, 2009 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where is the White House push back on this. They should have the big guns on air every hour calling out the right wing lies with the simple math or a 4% increase in overall spending. Also, reminding everyone that Gates is a GOP holdover. The GOP once again is making up fantastic lies and they need to be exposed over and over again as a pathetic group of lying baffoons.
April 9, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where is the White House push back on this. They should have the big guns on air every hour calling out the right wing lies with the simple math or a 4% increase in overall spending. Also, reminding everyone that Gates is a GOP holdover. The GOP once again is making up fantastic lies and they need to be exposed over and over again as a pathetic group of lying baffoons.
April 9, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, when Republicscum pushed for a return to the three "R"s, Dittohead Americans were already too stoopid to realize that two of the three "R"s didn't begin with R. Arithmetic was one of the those "R"s.
April 9, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's obvious that reducing our National defense budget from 90 bazillion dollars to 89.8 bazillion dollars will weaken our country's ability to defend itself.
April 9, 2009 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's too damn bad Obama isn't cutting the military as he should! But, whacking a handful of high priced, useless welfare programs for arms and munitions manufacturers is, at least, a start.
April 9, 2009 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
IMHO, but it seems that we may not need some 180 odd Raptors at around $200m each. We have 60-70 now. Strategically and Tactically, a smaller number may be sufficient, the Air Force seems to think so. Since the F-117 is being retired, the stealth features of the F-22 is needed, but 180 of them?
First off, we are the only nation in the world with Generation-5 aircraft (stealth) and only a few countries build Generation-4 aircraft (ie, F-15, F-18 Super Hornet, etc.). We are way ahead! However, we should spend some money on keeping ahead, so that if another country manages to build a Gen-5 aircraft, we can easily meet the challenge.
From what I understand, the Air Force will deploy the Raptor the same way as the F-117: cutting safe corridors through advanced air defense systems for the Gen-4 aircraft. The Raptor has the air superiority capabilities (ie that of the F-15, F-16, F-18, etc.) that the F-117 completely lacked since it is strictly a bomber. But given the stealth features of the Raptor as a suitable replacement for the F-117's mission, it would be a dangerous misuse of the Raptor to use it for air superiority at $200m a copy. The F-15s are fabulous with many dozens of air-to-air kills without a single F-15 lost. The only real threat to the F-15s are ground based air defense systems and brain damaged policy makers like Rumsfeld, and Price who as a fiscal conservative Republican would rather spend $200m on an aircraft that a $40m aircraft that is just as good in today's arena just to bring home the bacon his District. As I said before, if a country builds a Gen-5 and becomes a direct threat to us, get building away with F-22, but in the meantime 60 or so will do. Just ask the Air Force, they'll you the same thing.
Perhaps, Tom Price can try to replace those 7,000 jobs GA is claiming they would loose with getting a photovoltaic factory or some other alternate energy technology manufacturing facility. Be a hell of-a-lot cheaper than an exotic, although very cool, airplane.
April 9, 2009 3:15 PM | Reply | Permalink