Defense Cuts – Romney Will Increase

Romney will reverse military cutbacks—expansion of naval shipbuilding and Air Force

President Obamas re-election campaign on Thursday cast his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, as naive and inexperienced on national security matters even as Romney was accusing Obama of weakening the U.S. military through massive defense cuts. When it comes to foreign policy, Mitt Romney keeps getting it wrong, said Robert Diamond, an Iraq War veteran in charge of Obamas outreach efforts to veterans and military families. Diamond asserts that Romney would cut funding for veterans health care and accused the former Massachusetts governor of being out of touch with the militarys missions and needs. He can listen to advisers that think that the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia are still around, he said. When it comes to honoring our veterans, leading our troops, and weighing foreign policy decisions, Mitt Romney is hopelessly out of touch with reality. Even as Obamas campaign targets Romneys lack of national security credentials, Romney is stepping up his own attacks on Obamas plans to downsize the post-war military by $487 billion over the next five years. Obamas proposal would shrink the Army and Marine Corps by about 14 percent, close several domestic bases, slash spending on new weapon programs and reduce Navy shipbuilding. Romney said such cuts would substantially weaken the nations defenses and leave the United States vulnerable to future threats. He pledged to nearly double naval shipbuilding. America must have a military so strong no one would ever think of testing it, Romney said at a campaign stop in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday. So rather than cut back on the number of ships we buy per year as the president would ... Id go from the nine were planning on building to 17 a year. Romney has also promised to increase the Air Force and add about 100,000 active-duty personnel.

Romney wants to build the Navy and Air Force, increasing military spending

Babington, 2012 (Charles Babington, Associated Press and staff writer for the Tulsa World, April 28, 2012, “Romney's list of campaign vows raises questions: He says he wants to cut taxes, slash spending and try to balance the budget,” Tulsa World, p. Proquest)

Romney says he wants to put the nation on a path to a balanced budget while also cutting an array of taxes, building up the Navy and Air Force and adding 100,000 active-duty military personnel. He says he would slash domestic spending and reduce tax loopholes but has offered few details. His comments raise eyebrows in Congress, long accustomed to easier-said-than-done promises. And even some conservatives have their doubts. Christopher A. Preble, a vice president for the libertarian Cato Institute, says Romney's promise to push military spending to 4 percent of the national economy would require dramatic increases that would raise, not lower, the federal deficit.

Defense Cuts – Romney Will Increase

Romney differs from Obama on military spending—wants to preserve strong mil

Peoples, 2012 (Steve Peoples, staff writer for the Hutchinson News, May 29, 2012, “Romney promises world's strongest military,” Hutchinson News, p. Proquest)

SAN DIEGO - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney promised Monday to maintain an American military "with no comparable power anywhere in the world." The likely Republican presidential nominee faced a San Diego crowd estimated at 5,000 in what was billed as a Memorial Day service paying tribute to the nation's war dead, not a campaign rally. The appearance came the day before Romney was expected to win enough delegates to claim his party's nomination, a formality that cements his status as President Barack Obama's general election opponent. Without naming his general election rival on Monday, Romney drew clear contrasts with Obama on the issue of defense. The Democratic president has proposed reducing the size of the military following the end of the U.S. combat role in Iraq and plans to remove troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014. "We have two courses we can follow: One is to follow in the pathway of Europe, to shrink our military smaller and smaller to pay for our social needs," Romney said outside the city's Veterans Memorial Center and Museum. "The other is to commit to preserve America as the strongest military in the world, second to none, with no comparable power anywhere in the world."

Romney pledged to reverse Obama’s defense cuts

Concord Monitor, ’11 (Concord Monitor, October 2011, “Romney's wrong on defense spending,” Concord Monitor, p. Proquest)

It is easy to score points in a Republican presidential primary by talking tough and pledging to increase America's military might. That's exactly what Mitt Romney did in a speech this month, pledging to reverse President Obama's "massive defense cuts." Trouble is, no such cuts were ever made. Military spending is higher under President Obama than under George W. Bush. If elected, Romney said, he would expand the Navy, deploy carriers off Iran's coast, beef up missile defenses and increase spending on cyber-security. The latter is a necessity. Critical systems are far too vulnerable to internet attacks and cyber-snooping. But the rest of Romney's proposals are off-base. Defense spending should be cut significantly, not increased, and military priorities revisited.

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