FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, February 2, 2012
CONTACT: Bridget Nolan, Director of Communications, 707 287 5739
Washington D.C.- Today, Council for a Livable World criticized a bill introduced by six Republican Senators to avoid the defense budget cuts mandated last year by Congress as “unfair and missing the boat on what really should be cut.�
The Council argues that the nuclear weapons budget, along with other outdated and unnecessary weapons systems, should be the prime target for reductions. Many of these programs were originally designed during the Cold War to confront the Soviet Union, not the 21st century threats we face today.
Arguing against “across the board� defense cuts, the six Senators -- Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) – instead unfairly target federal employees who ensure that Social Security checks get mailed out, veterans receive the help they need, and education standards are maintained.
John Isaacs, Council for a Livable World’s executive director, suggested that “while it is in everyone’s interest to ensure that the U.S. remains safe and secure, hundreds of billions planned for new nuclear weapons systems could be saved that is no longer needed in the current threat environment.�
Isaacs continued, “we need to get our fiscal house in order and it can’t just be business as usual. If the six Senators object to across-the-board cuts, then they have an opportunity to find smart and targeted cuts in the nuclear weapons budget.�