{"id":44697,"date":"2015-02-01T20:30:08","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T20:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2015\/02\/01\/column-salute-empathize-repeat\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:35:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:35:04","slug":"column-salute-empathize-repeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2015\/02\/01\/column-salute-empathize-repeat\/","title":{"rendered":"Column: Salute. Empathize. Repeat."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congressional Republicans and Democrats empathize with military leaders who must deal with sequestration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And who wouldn&#8217;t?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If one listens only to current and retired four-star general and amdirals, one could be excused from thinking the across-the-board budget cuts will bring down the world&#8217;s lone superpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;No foe could wreak such havoc on our security that mindless sequestration is achieving,&#8221; retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, a former head of US Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/budget-policy\/congresswatch\/\" style=\"color: #1990e5;\"><b>For the latest national security news from Capitol Hill, go to CongressWatch<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To review, one of the most revered US military commanders in recent times says cuts to a budget that approaches half a trillion dollars annually are no match for nuclear-armed China or Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Strategists and budgeteers will no doubt want to unpack &#8220;Mad Dog&#8221; Mattis&#8217; bold pronouncement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats \u2014 publicly, at least \u2014 agreed with Mattis. After saluting the chiefs for their service, that is. That&#8217;s just good politics when the cameras are on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3744\" height=\"5616\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-77691\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg 3744w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=683,1024 683w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/john-bennett-mug-mwm-20140514.jpg?resize=1365,2048 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3744px) 100vw, 3744px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Defense News reporter John Bennett at Gannett Government Media in Springfield, Va., on Wednesday, May 14, 2014. (Mike Morones\/Staff)\r<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span>John T. Bennett is the senior congressional reporter for Defense News.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span>Photo Credit: Mike Morones<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Sequestration was designed to be &#8230; so stupid and unacceptable that Congress would never allow it to go into place. One of the reasons that it doesn&#8217;t make much sense is that we&#8217;re focusing all our budgetary attention on a declining part of the budget,&#8221; King said, referring to the annual Pentagon budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The growth in the budget right now is in mandatory programs, and particularly in health-care costs: Medicare, Medicaid, Children&#8217;s Health Program. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s driving the federal deficit. It&#8217;s not defense.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He wasn&#8217;t finished. And his subsequent rhetorical display would have made &#8220;Mad Dog&#8221; proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">King, who caucuses with Senate Democrats, says focusing half the sequestration cuts on defense is akin to &#8220;invading Brazil after Pearl Harbor. It&#8217;s a vigorous reaction, but it&#8217;s the wrong target because that is not where the problem is.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next Senate Democratic caucus lunch might feature some sideways glances toward King over those remarks, which echo congressional Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Did he then mention a sequester-nixing plan that met the demands of the White House (more tax revenues) and Republicans (deeper spending cuts)? No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be fair, nor did any <span class=\"-newsgate--ccix-command-243\">other member during hours of gloomy talk.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We don&#8217;t have a plan,&#8221; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., declared minutes later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My Defense News colleague Aaron Mehta, in a Twitter back-and-forth with me and Foreign Policy&#8217;s Kate Brannen, noted the chiefs, Congress and the White House say &#8220;sequester is a problem.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brannen quickly weighed in, using Twitter shorthand: &#8220;I think Congress &#038; WH secretly like it. Keeps hands clean. Cut defense w\/o being responsible for it. Bipartisan blame shifting.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This columnist, who has covered sequestration from its conception in 2011, replied: &#8220;Kate has discovered the secret ingredient.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both parties reject mere talk from the other that could end the automatic defense cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Empathy is no match for obstruction. It&#8217;s no solution, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Email: <a href=\"mailto:jbennett@defensenews.com\">jbennett@defensenews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congressional Republicans and Democrats empathize with military leaders who must deal with sequestration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":84367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[8,33,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1090],"class_list":["post-44697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-home","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"MCYX3PYR4VEH5FIK2O7LHLYEEY","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2015\/02\/01\/column-salute-empathize-repeat\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Column: Salute. 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