Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CNN
February 23, 2009
The Situation Room (CNN), 5:00 PM
WOLF BLITZER: In the meantime, I want to go to Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent.
She’s working a story involving some potentially deep cuts in the Pentagon’s budget in the coming years. And we just heard the president suggest, you know what, he sort of likes Marine One the way it is. He’s not exactly convinced he needs a new generation of a helicopter over at the White House after John McCain pointed out the cost overruns of that helicopter project.
What’s going on? Are they bracing for some major cuts in spending at DOD, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR: You bet, Wolf. All over the hallways, the word is it’s time to start scrimping and saving. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling everyone get ready for some big cuts in weapons spending.
But behind-the-scenes – no surprise – defense contractors are already exerting their political muscle, saying it means jobs on their shop floors.
The new supersonic Lightning 2 fighter jet uses the world’s most advanced technology.
But is it worth the $950-billion price tag? And how about $200 billion for these armored vehicles and communications gear?
Thousands of military industry jobs are at stake. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is about to swing the budget axe and tell Congress to kill off some of the Pentagon’s most treasured and most expensive programs.
DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: This moment also presents an opportunity – one of those rare chances to match virtue to necessity, to critically and ruthlessly separate appetites from real requirements.
STARR: With the military bogged down fighting insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, big ticket items like new fighter jets and warships may no longer be needed as much as they once were. So Gates is eyeballing some major weapons programs, such as the Lightning 2, built by Lockheed Martin; the Army’s Future Combat System, built by Boeing; and General Dynamics’ and Northrop Grumman’s Virginia class attack submarine.
Winslow Wheeler worked on defense spending issues for Congress for 30 years.
WINSLOW WHEELER [Center for Defense Information]: We’re going to have lots of fights in the next two or three months over various parts of the defense budget.
STARR: Already, powerful defense contractors are lobbying Congress to keep their programs intact. But Wheeler points out the jobs argument may be a losing argument.
WHEELER: For every billion dollars, the Pentagon generates significantly less jobs than mass transit or education or even health care.
STARR: Another program on the potential hit list, Wolf, is the F-22 fighter. The Pentagon is looking at possibly trying to save $8 billion by trimming that program. But the defense industry says that would mean 12,000 jobs in more than 40 states. That’s one, Wolf, you’re going to hear a lot about in the coming days. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right. We’ll hear a lot about some of those cuts at the Defense Department. Thanks very much, Barbara, for that.
February 23, 2009
The Situation Room (CNN), 5:00 PM
WOLF BLITZER: In the meantime, I want to go to Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent.
She’s working a story involving some potentially deep cuts in the Pentagon’s budget in the coming years. And we just heard the president suggest, you know what, he sort of likes Marine One the way it is. He’s not exactly convinced he needs a new generation of a helicopter over at the White House after John McCain pointed out the cost overruns of that helicopter project.
What’s going on? Are they bracing for some major cuts in spending at DOD, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR: You bet, Wolf. All over the hallways, the word is it’s time to start scrimping and saving. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling everyone get ready for some big cuts in weapons spending.
But behind-the-scenes – no surprise – defense contractors are already exerting their political muscle, saying it means jobs on their shop floors.
The new supersonic Lightning 2 fighter jet uses the world’s most advanced technology.
But is it worth the $950-billion price tag? And how about $200 billion for these armored vehicles and communications gear?
Thousands of military industry jobs are at stake. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is about to swing the budget axe and tell Congress to kill off some of the Pentagon’s most treasured and most expensive programs.
DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES: This moment also presents an opportunity – one of those rare chances to match virtue to necessity, to critically and ruthlessly separate appetites from real requirements.
STARR: With the military bogged down fighting insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq, big ticket items like new fighter jets and warships may no longer be needed as much as they once were. So Gates is eyeballing some major weapons programs, such as the Lightning 2, built by Lockheed Martin; the Army’s Future Combat System, built by Boeing; and General Dynamics’ and Northrop Grumman’s Virginia class attack submarine.
Winslow Wheeler worked on defense spending issues for Congress for 30 years.
WINSLOW WHEELER [Center for Defense Information]: We’re going to have lots of fights in the next two or three months over various parts of the defense budget.
STARR: Already, powerful defense contractors are lobbying Congress to keep their programs intact. But Wheeler points out the jobs argument may be a losing argument.
WHEELER: For every billion dollars, the Pentagon generates significantly less jobs than mass transit or education or even health care.
STARR: Another program on the potential hit list, Wolf, is the F-22 fighter. The Pentagon is looking at possibly trying to save $8 billion by trimming that program. But the defense industry says that would mean 12,000 jobs in more than 40 states. That’s one, Wolf, you’re going to hear a lot about in the coming days. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right. We’ll hear a lot about some of those cuts at the Defense Department. Thanks very much, Barbara, for that.