McConnell: White House Wants Effects of Defense Cuts Kept Secret Until After Election

by AWR Hawkins

 

According to Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Obama administration is seeking to have its cake and eat it too on defense cuts.

 

Addressing a Department of Labor guidance memo issued Monday, McConnell said: "The president doesn't want people reading about pink slips in the weeks before his election, so the White House is telling people to keep the effects of these cuts secret... until after the election."

In other words, McConnell believes the president wants certain defense jobs preserved just long enough to get him re-elected, then the jobs can be ended.

McConnell's concerns have been bolsterd by Lockheed Martin CEO Bob Stevens, who has threatened to lay off over 100,000 workers in response to Obama's cuts. McConnell's concerns have also been shared by trade groups that estimate a loss of 1 million jobs in the defense industry as a whole.

Democrats have responded by "accusing both Republicans and the defense industry" of playing politics with job losses.