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Stories tagged with “Adam Smith

Economy

Democratic Congressman Laughs At Fox News’ Fiscal Cliff Misinformation

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) schooled the hosts of Fox & Friends on the details of the deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” during an appearance to explain his opposition to the Senate-passed compromise on Wednesday morning. Smith also laughed off the network’s suggestion that President Obama has not offered specific spending cuts.

Smith said he voted against the “American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012” because the measure locked in low revenue levels that could necessitate dramatic spending cuts in the future. The Fox News hosts appeared incredulous, however, arguing that Obama failed to put any spending cuts on the table or show leadership on entitlement reform. Once Smith pointed to Obama’s proposal to change the growth of Social Security benefits, co-host Steve Doocy quickly dismissed the plan as a “nonstarter.” The Congressman laughed at the network’s attempt to criticize Obama and then debunked its claim that the GOP offered more specific spending reductions than the president:

DOOCY: Congressman, it’s great that you’re worried about spending and taxes, but you know, there are a lot of people who are watching this and they see the president and he really took no leadership when it comes to cutting spending with the budget and with this latest crisis, so it seems like….

SMITH: I don’t actually agree with that. The president put on the table cuts to entitlements. He put on the table the chained CPI issue, among other issues.

DOOCY: Wait, but that was a nonstarter for a lot of people in your party.

SMITH: [Laughs] Here is the thing, I mean you can say, ‘well, he’s not showing leadership.’ But now what you’re saying is he showed leadership, but nobody else was willing to. So it’s really hard to blame the president … As long as we’re talking about the president, let me also make the point, Speaker Boehner, the Republicans, what have they put on the table in terms of specific spending?

BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Look at the Ryan plan. Look at the budget they passed.

SMITH: No. A budget is not an appropriations bill, Brian. The budget said across the board, we will cut 10%. We’re not going to tell you what, we’re not going to tell you where. We’re just going to imagine that it’s going to happen. In terms of specific spending cuts, the president had actually put more on the table during this last negotiation than the so-called fiscal conservatives leading the House.

KILMEADE: Really? Because I don’t know anything that he wanted to cut besides defense.

SMITH: I just told you! I just told you!

Watch it:

“I’m concerned that revenue has been sort of taken off the table at this point,” Smith said. Ninety-percent “of the Bush tax cuts are now locked in permanently, so any effort to deal with the very large debt and deficit that we have going down the road here revenue is pretty much off the table and we didn’t get much. Those are my concerns and that’s why I voted no.”

Security

Dem Rep Wonders ‘How Many More Wars’ The U.S. Will Wage Under Romney

Yesterday on C-Span’s Newsmakers, House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-WA) reiterated his concern that Mitt Romney will carry over the Bush administration’s foreign policy should he win the White House this November. Given the number of Bush-Cheney foreign policy alumni advising Romney’s campaign, Smith said it’s a “legitimate question” to wonder whether his foreign policy as president will model George W. Bush’s:

SMITH: I think it’s the overwillingness to use the military. The over-willingness to use military action in the sort of belligerent, go it alone, no allies, no negotiations approach that I think is not well suited to our current national security needs. [...]

But what you get too much out of the Romney campaign — and certainly from Dick Cheney — is whenever there is a problem, we have to step in militarily. … Step after step after step, you have to wonder that if you have another Republican administration, how many more wars are we going to have to go through? And I think that’s a very legitimate question and I think they are too willing to use military action instead of looking at the other tools that are in our national security arsenal.

Q: So you think that Mitt Romney would be a carry over of George W. Bush when it comes to foreign policy?

SMITH: I think that’s a risk. Certainly. … He has relied a great deal on the Bush-Cheney administration national security leadership so I think it’s a worthy concern.

Watch the clip:

It’s not only concerning that many of Romney’s foreign policy advisers are holdovers from the Bush-Cheney-era but also, it appears that the so-called Cheney-ites on his team have the former Massachusetts governor’s ear. Moreover, Romney and Cheney actually share views on a number of foreign policy issues. And it appears that Romney is concerned about this perception as his campaign did not allow the media to photograph the two men together at a recent fundraiser.

LGBT

New Bill Would Recognize Military Same-Sex Spouses

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA)

Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, has introduced a new bill that would recognize benefits for the spouses of military servicemembers and veterans. According to the bill, any marriage recognized by a state would have to be recognized by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments:

Notwithstanding section 7 of title 1, an individual shall be considered a ‘spouse’ if the marriage of the individual is valid in the State in which the marriage was entered into or, in the case of a marriage entered into outside any State, if the marriage is valid in the place in which the marriage was entered into and the marriage could have been entered into in a State. In this paragraph, the term ‘State’ means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the territories and possessions.

The question of military benefits for same-sex couples is at the heart of the case McLaughlin v. U.S. brought by eight married couples. Republican leadership in the House is defending the Defense of Marriage Act against the couples’ suit, arguing they are not deserving of equal benefits for service.

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