— Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaking Tuesday at the Brookings Institution. There is a push, largely among Republicans, to exempt defense spending from the sequestration ax, which would cut some $600 billion from military spending over the coming decade unless Congress and the White House agree on a $1.2 trillion deficit-reduction package by January 2.
“Anyone who tells you sequestration is going to simply disappear because both sides want to avoid it is either fooling themselves, or trying to fool you…We are also not going to allow just the defense cuts to be replaced without addressing the domestic spending cuts that would be devastating to the middle class.”
