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U.S. senators deny plans of $350 billion defense spending cuts

RIA Novosti

04:33 03/08/2011

WASHINGTON, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Co-chairmen of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee denied reports that the recently approved debt ceiling deal will cut national defense spending by $350 billion.

Foreign Policy's The Cable blog said earlier this week that the White House plans to save $350 billion in 10 years by cutting spending by the Pentagon, the State Department, USAID, intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I don't know where the White House gets the $350 billion number from," Senator Carl Levin said. "There will be a negative and deep effect on the military if the cuts happen"

He said the debt ceiling deal, approved on Tuesday, only sets caps for the security budget and only for the first two years. The exact sum of military budget cuts is yet to be determined, though, according to Levin, it might be "significant."

The Congress will consider the defense budget after summer recess, which ends in early September.

Another committee head, Senator John McCain, also said he was "not sure" about the defense cuts.

"There are some reductions but it's my understanding they were spread out over a number of accounts," he said.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed the bill raising the debt ceiling, and President Barack Obama signed it into law. The bill calls for $2.1 trillion in spending cuts spread over 10 years and raises the borrowing limit by enough to last into 2013.