The Pushback (updated)

Defense Secretary Robert Gates' proposed budget cut of $75 billion over the next five years is already meeting congressional resistance. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) just released a statement to express his unhappiness over the cuts:

I'm not happy.  We went into today's meeting trying to ensure the $100 billion in targeted savings were reinvested back into our national security priorities. We didn't expect to hear that before these efficiencies can be realized, the White House and OMB have demanded that the Pentagon cut an additional $78 billion from defense over the next five years.

These cuts are being made without any commitment to restore modest future growth, which is the only way to prevent deep reductions in force structure that will leave our military less capable and less ready to fight.  This is a dramatic shift for a nation at war and a dangerous signal from the Commander in Chief.

Today's meeting was the first step in a longer process that now involves the U.S. Congress.  We will closely scrutinize Secretary Gates' proposal in the coming months as we craft the defense budget for Fiscal Year 2012.  At first glance, I’m particularly concerned about the proposed cuts to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Members of the House Armed Services Committee remain committed to the Marine Corps as an expeditionary fighting force ‘in ready’, which includes the capability to conduct amphibious landings.  This mission could be jeopardized by the cancellation of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, a capability re-validated by the Secretary just last year, and delays in the Joint Strike Fighter and amphibious ship construction.

I remain committed to applying more fiscal responsibility and accountability to the Department of Defense, but I will not stand idly by and watch the White House gut defense when Americans are deployed in harm's way.

UPDATED -- 4:05 p.m.:

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA), chairman of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee, weighs in:

“In the last month, increasingly concerning reports regarding China’s military buildup have surfaced. These include news of China’s development of the DF-21D, a second missile system that is capable of taking out our aircraft carriers, rumors of Chinese plans for double-digit expansion of its defense spending, and reports that China is moving closer to having an operational carrier at some point this year. In 2009, shortly after the Pentagon announced it would discontinue the F-22 program, Secretary Gates predicted that China would not have a stealth fighter by 2020. Yet, this week photos have surfaced of a Chinese stealth fighter participating in high speed taxi tests, a precursor to initial test flights, that according to some, rivals the F-22 and is decisively superior to the F-35.

“How disturbing is it, then, that within the very same week, our own Administration under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Gates has announced the continued dismantling of the greatest military the world has ever known. If Secretary Gates’ plans and predictions with these defense cuts are as accurate as his Chinese stealth fighter forecasts, Americans ought to be concerned for our national security.

“Even more appalling, though, is the fact that the Administration is not being honest with the threat we face with China or where our defense dollars are going. Last August when Secretary Gates announced his plans to cut $100 billion of the defense budget, he said, ‘Unlike budget cutting efforts of the past, the services will be able to keep the savings they generate to reinvest in higher-priority warfighting and modernization programs.’ At best, this was naivety; at worst, dishonesty.”