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Battle brewing over defense budget cuts

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  • Description

    Lawmakers debate plans on Capitol Hill

  • Duration 2:40
  • Date

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Good evening I'm Bret -- there is a major fight brewing in congress.

Over how much of your money will be spent on defense.

-- your top brass on Capitol Hill today.

How much will be spent on the people who fight the country's battles.

House Republicans want to jettison mandatory spending cuts called the sequester.

Cuts one general today likened to an imminent apparel of Greek legend chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel tells us what's happening right now.

If we didn't have that sort of damocles right and over if we would be in much better show.

Army vice chief of staff general Lloyd Austin issued that warning to lawmakers as the Pentagon is due to take the brunt of 110 billion dollars in mandatory spending cuts in January in general the vice chief of naval operations says the reductions known as sequestration.

Would -- the navy's ability to respond -- hotspots around the world.

It would also cause us to go back and -- look at the strategy because the forced the comes out of sequestration is not the force that can support the current strategy.

It were operating under house Republicans are trying to prevent that from happening by passing a bill today to instead trim what they argue are bloated domestic programs.

In order to stop slashing the military budget.

Not only does it.

How -- defense according to sit Defense Secretary but also creates an 8% across the board cut.

To domestic discretionary spending like national institutes of -- health.

And we think we should prevent that on a bipartisan basis -- Democrats oppose the measure Defense Secretary Leon Panetta applauded the effort but say it's cuts are too controversial.

The guaranteed results will be confrontation.

Gridlock.

In a greater likelihood of sequester.

Again.

The key is to work together.

-- working together has been a huge challenge for this congress previous efforts to find savings or cuts spending such as last year's super committee have -- -- super committee itself was created after congress couldn't agree to -- reductions as part of last August debt ceiling increase now senator Harry Reid says the automatic cuts will happen.

If lawmakers are unable to reach agreement again.

If we don't make those choices for them there's going to be a 600 billion dollar cut in the military and 600 billion dollar him.

The domestic -- that's the -- yes and I'm not about to walk away from -- agreement.

Democrats say any plan should include raising taxes on higher income Americans which would not pass the house and probably wouldn't pass the senate.

And that in this election -- is why Panetta and the Pentagon brass are so concerned -- Mike Emanuel on the hill Mike thank you one of the.

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