UPDATED: Deleted Comment We Wrongly Attributed to Norquist That Came From Cato Website. WASHINGTON: That anguished sound you hear is the gnashing of teeth and grumbling among defense Republicans in reaction to comments today about the defense budget by Grover Norquist, he of the unbreakable pledge signed by most Republicans to never raise taxes. “Conservatives… Keep reading →

A year has passed since Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the Budget Control Act-the legislation mandating sequestration. Funding cuts that once seemed politically remote now loom large for leaders increasingly anxious about the impact $1.2 trillion in automatic budget reductions will have upon their respective districts and states. An estimated two million… Keep reading →

Anyone who has served in the military knows there is plenty of fat to be cut in the Pentagon budget. But rather than take a “meat ax” to the budget — as Defense Secretary Panetta famously described sequestration — there are more targeted ways to reduce and reform defense spending. Whether it’s procedural inefficiencies, duplicative… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The defense spending bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee today keeps Block 30 Global Hawk drones flying, instead of letting them be warehoused as the Air Force had planned, a congressional source confirmed to Breaking Defense. That is arguably the final flourish on Congress’s utter rejection of the Air Force’s proposed cuts in… Keep reading →

CAPITOL HILL [updated 12:40 with Feinstein, Inouye remarks and results of amendment vote]: Sequestration drama roiled an otherwise pro forma mark-up of the Senate’s defense appropriations bill this morning, with a precious flicker of bipartisanship over the need to avert the sequester soon overtaken by disagreement over the legalities of layoff notices. If the automatic… Keep reading →

DepSecDef Carter @ #HASC says sequester wld mean cuts 4 F-35s, 1 P-8, 12 Strykers, 300 medium, heavy tactical vehicles CVN-78, LCS delays ColinClarkAol

WASHINGTON [updated 6:45 pm with Rep. Smith and AIA comment]: The Labor Department issued guidance today stating that defense companies and other federal contractors do not need to issue layoff notices sixty days in advance of sequestration. House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon immediately denounced the guidance as “politically motivated,” and his staff called it… Keep reading →

Labor Dept saying WARN act does NOT require layoff notices re sequester: http://bit.ly/Q6urjz. Story soon @ http://aol.it/NkxTqu SydneyFreedberg

Even as Lockheed Martin chairman Robert Stevens warns of mass layoffs if sequestration hits, his company has been doing remarkably well this year, with revenue up 6 percent this quarter and earnings up 26 percent, according to an analysis by Motley Fool’s Rich Smith. Boeing has done even better, with 58 percent earnings growth, thanks… Keep reading →

Panetta: sequestration would require getting rid of 100,000 troops – http://bit.ly/MMCbXc. Our past coverage: http://aol.it/K5YGSp SydneyFreedberg