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Obama will veto any efforts to undo automatic cuts

President Obama said he would veto any efforts to undermine the automatic spending cuts that will go into effect because the debt reduction supercommittee faile...

Federal News Network Staff

November 21, 2011 8:01 pm

< a min read

By Jolie Lee
Federal News Radio

President Obama said he would veto any efforts to undermine the automatic spending cuts that will go into effect because the debt reduction supercommittee failed to come up with a deal today.

The President’s announcement came within an hour of the committee’s concession that it was unable to bridge political divisions to come up with recommendation to cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over a decade.

As part of the debt ceiling deal in August, automatic across-the-board cuts will be triggered starting January 2013. President Obama reminded lawmakers they had a year until those cuts begin.

Some defense hawks in Congress have said the debt deal has inflicted enough damage to the Pentagon. The Defense Department already faces $450 billion in cuts over a decade.

“Our military has already contributed nearly half a trillion to deficit reduction. Those who have given us so much have nothing more to give,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., who promised to introduce legislation to prevent the cuts.

Super failure: Deficit-cutting panel gives up