John McCain Backs Billions In Defense Cuts

(Reuters) - Senator John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said billions of dollars could be saved from the defense budget by cutting lawmakers' pet projects, known as earmarks, and fixing troubled arms programs.

McCain told a foreign policy forum on Monday that he is confident Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be able to cut $100 billion from the defense budget over the next five years to fund personnel costs and keep weapons programs on track.

...

McCain also said he worried a lot about the rise of protectionism and isolationism in the Republican Party, and whether that could lead to an erosion of support for the war in Afghanistan, particularly given calls by some newly elected members of Congress to cut defense spending.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[cutesky]

01:10 PM on 11/16/2010

I have a solution to cutting defense spending that John McCain isn't going to like. How about ending these wars that area getting us nothing but dead American soldiers and deeper and deeper debt and for what? McCain is a war monger and likes nothing better than a war or set of wars to turn him on. He prides himself as a self proclaimed war efficianado. He really gets off on war. They have therapy for people like that and toy soldiers for children and adults who have never grown up. Why we even listen to this big blow hard is beyond me. He's not happy unless the U.S is engaged in some sort of war. If he gets off on it so much , why don't we send him to the war zones and let him have his fun. Oh yes...I know he was a prisoner of war, but that does not make him an expert on war. He needs to get help for his War obsession. If I remember correctly, didnt he vote against a new benefit package for our veteran? What a guy. It's really sick to look for excuses to go to war and stay in war for McCains pleasure. I'm sad and angry at this disgrace.

[hopeisalive]

10:16 AM on 11/16/2010

It is interesting that the title of the article talks of billions of dollars----they are right to an extent----but the final amount Mr. McCain supports does very little to trim the budget. "Ear Marks" will probably not show up for a little while, but we all know that the closer to 2012 we get the more pressure will be on them to do something for their constituients. We still have unbid contracts out there. We still have cost overruns on most projects and we still have obsolete weapon systems being built. There should be at least twice what Mr. McCain believe that could be cut able to be cut without impairing our Military.

[Mark Harmon]

10:16 AM on 11/16/2010

And John Mcain is credible because why? Oh yeah, he was a POW 40 yrs ago, well that should make him an expert on all military matters.

[Bob Elkins]

10:30 AM on 11/16/2010

He was a POW because he was stooopid enough to keep crashing that plane 5 or 6 times. Or was it the US armed forces at fault for constantly giving him a new set of keys. Either way, someone was not making good decisions and they are still there.He is irrelevant. Never made ANY noticeable policy in his career. Cost the navy, personally, billions just by being a member, and has personally cost the US and Az year after year for his very existence. We pay him, we insure him, we will retire (hopefully) him, and we are stuck listening to him (59 times on mtp) ad nauseum. He stuck us with the Alaskan distraction, and he puts his big foot down on all important policy matters wherever his willow tree moral sway happens to be for a particular 5 minute span. We need for him to be put out to pasture. Arizona residents should spend the week prior to voting in the shade so as to cool their brains off and vote with some sense (Brewer, Sheriff Joe, McCain etc.) of sanity.

[cutesky]

01:12 PM on 11/16/2010

He's just a bifg mouth with nothing to back him up. He loves war as long as he's not in it.

[rbenjamin]

09:23 AM on 11/16/2010

Any headline stating John McCain's position on any issue should use the following format:

"XXXXX XXXXX ....... XXXXXX -for now"

[Gaylord P Farqua]

09:20 AM on 11/16/2010

The Maverick Who Isn't A Maverick Anymore has protected himself in the future over these remarks by his "let's do a one year study rule" and then a one year analysis of the study to be sure we picked the right study. Last step is to just simply reverse himself. It worked with DADT except at one of his 7 or 8 homes when the Cindy the Beer Baroness publicly disagreed.

[robbor]

09:11 AM on 11/16/2010

Save 100 billion over 5 years....pocket change when you consider the annual pentagon budget is 775 billion...lets see, that works out to a reduction of 20 billion a year , a MASSIVE 3 % reduction!

[warren stickney]

09:10 AM on 11/16/2010

Used to be Mavericky John McCain ! Time to leave with dignity. You remind me more of Raegen each day as you stare blankly into the camera recalling some talking point and fading off into distance.
Next youll say you want a military increase. And so it goes !

[turamali]

09:00 AM on 11/16/2010

Mr. McCain you are the one who brought the "face" of the Baggies to Washington, as usual, you thought you were so by smart picking a woman to be your VP candidate and she has shoved herself down our throats ever since. Had you done your homework you would have known what she wa but you didn't bother and now we are stuck with her.

As for you backing cutting earmarks for defence yes $100 billion is a good start, but nexrt week you will change your stance on that issue.

[cutesky]

01:22 PM on 11/16/2010

If he cared about America First as he so falsely claims....why didn't he do his due diligence and vet his moronic running mate and the pox of Sarah Palin would not have been hoisted upon the American People. McCain in my opinion, is a charlatan and general BS artist!

[turamali]

03:13 PM on 11/16/2010

I absolutely agree with you.

[southdakotajack]

08:57 AM on 11/16/2010

Just plain non-sense: Maintain the support for the War and cut military spending. We've done that before, and guys who got cut were the wounded Vets.

[AuContrairian]

08:46 AM on 11/16/2010

The man should get some credit for this one-- just as he should be ridiculed for his "beliefs" on immigration & DADT.

[Apathy Man]

08:56 AM on 11/16/2010

Why should he get credit for this? the moment Obama says it's a good idea he'll change his mind. More to the point we shouldn't be in these three wars that we're in right now. Pakistan is the third that they won't talk about. Send our troops home and end this fiction of a war on terror that never ends.

[wakeup804]

08:43 AM on 11/16/2010

Heck, McCain alone ran up a tab with the military from all of the planes he crashed on a regular basis.......this man is becoming pathetic...........he stands for nothing anymore.....just whatever is politically expedient...........there is nothing so sad as a man whose opinions and values change with any direction the wind blows.

[despike]

08:41 AM on 11/16/2010

The maverick is back, election is over.

[Reel Recordings]

09:20 AM on 11/16/2010

But he said he never called himself a maverick.

[James Mangan]

08:35 AM on 11/16/2010

Who cares what John McCain thinks? This is the guy who did everything people seem to think is necessary for the Republican Party: become moderate so people in the middle will like you. He got trounced at the polls.
The clearer picture of what the Republican Party needs to do was reflected in the elections a couple weeks ago: conservative principles are popular. People like conservatism. People will vote for conservatism. It works!

[LeftLeanWing]

08:28 AM on 11/16/2010

He applauded Gates' efforts to find savings, but said he worried the Obama administration and "some in Congress" would not allow those savings to be reinvested into modernization and personnel accounts.

Isn't the whole idea for the Savings to go into Reducing The Deficit ?
So what is McCain talkin' bout ?
Takes a dig at the President at every opportunity... even when it doesn't make sense. 

"A defense budget in decline portends an America in decline," McKeon told the forum, saying that view had strong bipartisan support. "It will undermine our ability to project power, strengthen our adversaries and weaken our alliances."

I thought it was the DEFICIT and DEBT that was causing our decline ?...  Sound like a Bait-n-Switch
How many AirCraft Carriers are needed to fight the Taliban and al-Qa'eda. ?

[hellotiki]

08:27 AM on 11/16/2010

The next rally in Washington should be the "Shut the F*K Up Rally." No sanity, no back to America,. Just tell these guys to zip it!

[cutesky]

01:14 PM on 11/16/2010

Thank You!!! fanned