In Virginia a large segment of our population works for the Department of Defense, either as a civilian employee, serving in a branch of the Armed Forces, or working for a Defense contractor. Much of Virginia’s economy depends on the Department of Defense budget. Our Virginia Senators don’t seem to care.[read_more]
Both voted against Defense Appropriations bill HR 2685. Senate Democrats are holding hostage the Defense bill until Republicans agree to end sequestration so the Democrats can expand spending on other programs.
The Senate voted 50-45 to cut off debate on the bill so they could proceed with a vote to authorize the Defense Appropriations bill. But a majority vote is no longer good enough in the Senate, to pass in the Senate a bill must have a ‘super majority’. Referring to the sequestration caps that are preventing the Democrats from expanding other government programs Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said,
“We cannot and we should not fix part of our government and not the other part, we have until this fiscal year ends in the fall to work this out. And that’s what we should do.”
Senator Roy Blount (R-MO) responded,
“To hold defense hostage … because somehow we’ve discovered that no matter what the worldwide situation is we need equity in spending, is outrageous.”
More on the story here.
