Congressman on supercommittee failure- don't tell my heart, my Akin breakin' heart

(From Congressman and U. S. Senate candidate Todd Akin)

Congressman Todd Akin, Chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, today expressed his deep disappointment in the failure of the so-called Super Committee to come to an agreement on deficit reduction. Congressman Akin voted against the creation of the Super Committee in the Budget Control Act of 2011 because he did not believe that it would address the fundamental problem of reckless deficit spending, and would also put our national security at risk by cutting our defense budget dangerously far.

Congressman Akin released the following statement:

“I did not vote for the creation of the Super Committee, because I believed that the Budget Control Act did not address the fundamental problem of reckless deficit spending. Additionally, I was worried that the Budget Control Act would lead toward draconian cuts to our defense budget, while not addressing auto-pilot spending programs, which are the real drivers of our budget problems. Unfortunately, it looks like my concerns were legitimate.

“Last week, Democrats voted against an amendment to our Constitution that would require a balanced budget, even though it left the door open to tax increases. This week, the Democrats brought the Super Committee negotiations to a crashing conclusion by refusing to consider any proposals that didn’t have massive tax increases. As President Obama himself has said, raising taxes during a recession is the last thing you would want to do.

“Unfortunately, the failure of the Super Committee not only puts our nation at risk financially, it also puts our nation at risk militarily. If sequestration is enacted, the consequences will be devastating to our military and will weaken our ability to defend ourselves.

“A weak military actually increases the likelihood that we will be drawn into a future conflict, as potential adversaries see our weakness as an opportunity to attack us or our allies. A strong military will allow us to have peace through strength. The cuts that will be enacted by sequestration will imperil that strength.”