Democratic House members who supported the automatic $600 billion of military spending cuts that will begin next year may lose their jobs as a result of this support.
That’s because defense spending provides so many jobs across the country — from Virginia to California,
Politico reports. One study indicates that slashing Pentagon spending would cost Americans 1 million jobs. The decade-long spending cutback was triggered by the failure of the congressional supercommittee on budget deficit reduction to reach an agreement last November.
Republicans, who want to repeal the automatic cuts, are going after Democrats, who won’t back an overturn of the cuts without a tax increase to pay for it.
“Any member of Congress that would defend the sequester [spending cuts] and not come up with an alternative or [insist on revenues], I think that in a competitive district they would be open to attack to cutting defense too deeply,” Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., told Politico. He served in both Iraq wars.
Democrats must decide whether to defend last year’s debt ceiling agreement, which paved the way for the sequester, or to make sure they protect military jobs in their districts. Democrats who support the sequester represent easy targets for Republicans.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is attacking Democratic Reps. Larry Kissell of North Carolina, Bill Owens of New York, and John Barrow of Georgia over the cuts, which could result in major job losses in their districts. “These Democrats are already on record opposing common-sense reforms that would avoid these devastating cuts to local jobs and America’s military,” Paul Lindsay, an NRCC spokesman, told Politico.
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