By Mary Orndorff Troyan, Gannett Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - House and Senate Republicans on Wednesday proposed
shrinking the federal workforce and freezing congressional pay as a way
to avoid huge, automatic spending cuts at the Pentagon.
The
"sequester" portion of the August 2011 law that raised the nation's debt
limit imposes automatic spending cuts of $1.2 trillion over 10 years -
half from defense programs and half from non-defense programs - unless
Congress and the White House agree on a less drastic deficit-reduction
plan.
The first installment of the automatic spending cuts - $85
billion - will take effect March 1, prompting President Obama and
congressional lawmakers to consider alternatives.
Wednesday's
proposal came from four GOP senators - Lindsey Graham of South
Carolina, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John McCain of Arizona, Jim
Inhofe of Oklahoma - and top Republicans on the House Armed Services
Committee. The lawmakers said the deep, indiscriminate cuts mandated by
the 2011 debt-limit law would jeopardize national security.
"Our
enemies would love for this to happen," Graham said at a news
conference. "I'm sure Iran is very supportive of sequestration."
The
GOP proposal borrows an idea from Obama's own deficit-reduction
commission that calls for a 10% reduction in the federal workforce, or
about 200,000 fewer federal workers over time. The National Commission
on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform recommended hiring only two new
employees for every three who leave service. Ayotte said the bill adds a
freeze in congressional pay, for a total savings of $85 billion.
The
proposal would cover the remainder of fiscal 2013 and buy Congress and
the White House more time to craft a broader deficit-reduction plan that
would replace the sequester.
The group's announcement comes the
day after Obama encouraged a combination of short-term spending cuts and
tax reform to prevent sequestration. Republicans objected to the
prospect of tax increases, even if it would mean preventing cuts to
defense programs.
McCain said the sequestration cuts would threaten 350,000 full-time direct jobs at the Pentagon.
Graham
said Republicans, who agreed to the sequester policy in 2011 as an
incentive to reach a long-term deficit-reduction deal, are partially to
blame for the impending military budget crisis. But he was especially
critical of Obama, and said allowing the cuts would tarnish his legacy.
"You
would have allowed the finest military in the history of the world to
deteriorate at a time when we need it most," Graham said.