(KCPW News) Utah Congressman Rob Bishop says the Pentagon should reconsider slashing the defense budget. Speaking on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, the Republican said he and other members of the armed services committee will be asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to justify cutting $78 billion and pulling back troops over the next five years.
“When we are still flying tankers that were originally designed and built when I was in the first grade, we have an infrastructure problem,” said Bishop. “So if he’s actually going to pull that kind of money out, we want to know specifically where it’s coming and if it actually harms the infrastructure where we already have significant problems.”
Bishop says he’s concerned about the consequences the cuts will have on military defense in the future.
“What you spend today does not impact the military preparedness today. It impacts what we can do 15 years from today and what kind of diplomatic opportunities we have 15 years from today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz has called for the military to pull out of Afghanistan altogether. And Senator Mike Lee has said that if the troops are being used to re-build the country rather than fight terror, they should come back home.
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