Republicans Flip On Government Job Creation For Defense
By DONNA CASSATA
11/04/11
WASHINGTON -- The same Republicans who insist that federal spending doesn't create jobs and should be cut in the face of staggering deficits are leading the charge against smaller military budgets because about a million defense jobs would be lost.
Pentagon accounts are coming down, and Republicans who repeatedly reject the idea that an infusion of federal dollars can produce new jobs now say the government should keep billions flowing to the makers of guns, tanks, aircraft and ships for the sake of sparing jobs in home districts and states. It's the newest of several arguments against reducing Pentagon budgets.
The contradiction undercuts the GOP's anti-government spending mantra that proved successful for the party in 2010 congressional races in which Republicans reclaimed the House – a pitch sure to be repeated by candidates in 2012 contests.
Then and now, Republicans fill the campaign airwaves, news releases and stump speeches with the argument that Democratic spending – and specifically President Barack Obama's $825 billion stimulus package in 2009 – doesn't create jobs. Just this August, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said they were wrong, estimating that in the second quarter of this year alone, the spending package increased the number of people employed by between 1 million and 2.9 million...
For the full story, go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/republicans-defense-cuts-job-creation-spending_n_1076010.html?ref=politics
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