WHNT - Mo Brooks on US Debt

News Article

By Allison Duff

Congressman Mo Brooks had some tough words about the Nation's debt and national defense at today's Huntsville Chamber of Commerce Washington Update.

Brooks said it's not Al-Quada or Iran that's the biggest threat to national security, but rather our debt.

"The number one priority of the federal government is national defense," said Brooks. "There may be requirements for cuts but it ought to be someplace else other than national defense first. If after those cuts have been made you still have to cut national defense, then we'll have to look at it."

Brooks talked about sequestration: across the board, automatic spending cuts scheduled for January 2013.

The cuts are a result of the congressional supercommittee's failure last year to agree on 1.2 trillion dollars in savings.

If sequestration goes into effect, 500 billion dollars would be cut from military spending over the next decade.

"You're talking about a loss of about roughly 700 thousand national defense employees," said Brooks. "It reduces our national defense capabilities by about 25%."

But head of the Madison County Democrats, Clete Wetli, disagrees with Brooks' assessment.

"Representative Brooks is simply inciting fear by misrepresenting the facts. The truth is that america's military is larger than the rest of the world combined and will remain strong," said Wetli. "The real issue is that Brooks is opposed to eliminating tax breaks for millionaires and big oil."

As for the national budget, it's been over 1,000 days since the Senate passed a budget.

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