(Image source: C-SPAN )

 

BY FERDOUS AL-FARUQUE

 

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pleaded with congressional leaders Wednesday to reach a deal before a trigger to cut military spending across the board comes into effect at year’s end, in something also known as sequestration.

“We are at a strategic turning point after 10 years of war. ...Congress did pass The Budget Control Act of 2011 which imposes spending limits that reduce the defense-based budget by $487 billion over the next decade.”

Panetta asked congressional leaders to stick to the Pentagon’s original budget that would cut half a trillion dollars reducing the size of the U.S. military. But NPR’s Larry Abramson says pork-barrel politics is getting in the way:

“He’s cut what he considers aging equipment but members of Congress have voted to reverse a lot of those cuts because in many cases they represent programs beloved in their home districts.”

Sequestration was an outcome of last year’s political battle over the national debt ceiling. President Obama has already said he would veto any bill that would cut it without increasing taxes. AOL Defense’s Mackenzie Eaglen says:

“The president's veto threat pushes any effort to seriously address these budget cuts to the lame duck session of Congress after the election in November.”

Though it doesn’t seem likely a deal will be struck until after the elections, The Hill says its sources tell the paper about 30 senators from both sides of the aisle have been looking for a compromise solution in behind-closed door meetings.

If the cuts do go into effect, Fox News says the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, suggested it “could lead to war.”

Dempsey testified with Panetta at the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, telling lawmakers the U.S. could lose “global standing” and warned it could open “the door for enemies to test American military might.”