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 2:16 PM, Apr 19, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPERPresident Obama likes to say that a strong America abroad rests on a strong America at home. What he and his administration continue to ignore, however, is that a prosperous America at home has in no small way rested for decades on America’s global military preeminence.
It’s preeminence that has kept the great powers at peace and ambitious rogue states from disrupting the international order. But unless the Budget Control Act of 2011 is in some fashion overridden or amended, the automatic “sequester” (cut) of $500 billion in defense spending mandated by the law will definitely put that preeminence at risk. Coming on the heels of over $800 billion already having been sliced from the military’s budget the past three years, the new cut will likely result in the smallest ground force since 1940, the smallest fleet since 1915, and the smallest tactical fighter force in the history of the Air Force.
Republicans in the House and Senate have put proposals forward for avoiding this disaster by offering up other savings from the federal budget. But, so far, the president and the majority of Democrats in Congress have shown no interest in those proposals—instead, holding the military’s future and America’s long-standing global advantage hostage to their goal of raising taxes.
In an effort to put the facts, figures, and likely economic and strategic consequences for letting the sequester happen, the House Armed Services Committee has put together an invaluable “Sequestration Resource Kit,” making it available here.
There is plenty to chew on here, with charts and graphs on the defense budget, separate papers on the myths surrounding defense spending, the impact of the sequester on the military, its impact on the economy and the industrial base, and highlights of congressional testimony and public commentary on the serious downsides for not preventing this next round of defense cuts.
3:03 PM, Jul 19, 2011 • By DANIEL HALPERIn response to a question about whether now would be a good time for the president to present his own debt ceiling budget plan, White House spokesman Jay Carney had this to say: "Leadership is not proposing a plan for the sake of having it voted up or down and likely voted down..."
Read more... 2:26 PM, Jul 19, 2011 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON
President Obama repeatedly insists that the debt ceiling must be raised by at least $2.4 trillion. Why this particular amount, rather than, say, an even $1 trillion or $2 trillion? Because $2.4 trillion is Obama’s estimate for what it would take to get him through the next election without needing to deal with another debt ceiling battle. In other words, $2.4 trillion is a politically generated figure.
Read more... Jason Chaffetz, the bill's author, responds.1:41 PM, Jul 18, 2011 • By MICHAEL WARRENThe Obama administration issued a press release this afternoon to declare that the president would not sign the "Cut, Cap, and Balance" legislation if it were pass in the House of Representatives:
Read more... Further cutting the defense budget is an unacceptable debt ceiling compromise. 10:16 AM, Jul 7, 2011 • By WILLIAM KRISTOLThere are many reasons to be skeptical that any likely budget deal would be worth supporting. And it’s long past time for Republicans to be planning strategically, and laying the groundwork legislatively and politically, for an outcome of no deal (or possibly a mini-deal that doesn’t sacrifice conservative principles).
Read more... 9:08 AM, May 18, 2011 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON
Much has been made of the Paul Ryan-authored House budget’s proposal to make Medicare more solvent through increased competition and choice — and rightly so. But that proposal is hardly the sole difference between the respective budgets authored by Ryan and President Obama.
Read more... The strong horse in the Senate.12:00 AM, May 11, 2011 • By FRED BARNES
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell will vote against increasing the debt limit unless President Obama agrees to spending cuts and long term reforms that satisfy the bond market, as well as foreign investors, and “astonish the American people.”
Read more... 8:01 AM, May 9, 2011 • By DANIEL HALPERFred Barnes writes in the Wall Street Journal:
Do President Obama and Democrats want to cut spending? There's not much evidence they do. They have acquiesced to some cuts—but only under political duress.
Read more... 8:55 AM, May 5, 2011 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON
Ever since President Obama gave his speech on deficit reduction last month, in response to the Paul Ryan-authored 2012 House Republican budget, press accounts have suggested that he has released an actual budget that would reduce deficit spending by $4 trillion. This claim is wrong on both counts: Obama has not released a second budget, and the proposals he outlined in his speech and its corresponding "framework" would not reduce deficit spending by anywhere near $4 trillion.
Read more... 6:00 AM, Apr 15, 2011 • By JAY COSTLately, I’ve been staying up late at night because I’m just too stressed over the state of the union. Unable to sleep, I often find myself toggling between scores of Excel spreadsheets, crunching all sorts of numbers to get my mind around the gaping budget deficit that is threatening the country. It isn’t pretty, as we all know, and unfortunately my computations have only made me feel worse.
Read more... 10:11 AM, Apr 14, 2011 • By DANIEL HALPERBarack Obama responded to Paul Ryan's budget proposal yesterday, and the GOP congressman and chairman of the House Budget Committee will give his rebuttal today. The event is hosted by the think tank e21, and Fred Barnes will be the moderator. Here are the details:
Read more...
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- Conservative Intelligence
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Ethan Epstien, in a New York System state of mind
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Washington plays by TSA rules.
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Reflections from the thinking man’s knuckleballer.
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Really?
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A film without pretension about warriors as heroes.
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With American evangelicals on the ground in South Sudan.
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Romney’s challenge is to address the deep uneasiness in America and point the way to a comeback.
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The American and his/her car.
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   Obama’s overblown tax breaks
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 Why we need to break up the banks.
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