Automatic cuts would ‘hollow out the military’

Alexander Bolton of The Hill discusses the status of potential cuts to federal spending that supercommitte is considering.

Budget cuts are coming and you’ll find out soon what they mean for agencies and contractors. The supercommittee is supposed to make its recommendations for cutting federal spending by Nov. 23.

Alexander Bolton of The Hill is following it closely and joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris on Wednesday morning. He spoke about the latest developments, including the House GOP’s efforts to stop compulsory defense cuts if the supercommittee can’t agree on its own cuts.

“Republican leaders don’t want to admit that they would even think about backing out of the automatic cuts,” he said. “Otherwise there’s very little impetus for members of the supercommittee to reach a deal.”

GOP members who are concerned about the cuts are allies of the Pentagon and Defense spending, Bolton said. Many of them agree with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s assessment that if these cuts go through, they would effectively hollow out the military.

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