odd thing. but i think, you know, this is a debate that goes on. the assault weapons ban is dead, you talk to the white house. they don t even mention it. they talk about gun trafficking and the background checks. but in some ways, the assault weapons ban will give the moderate democrats in these states like north carolina. if they were able to go to the senate floor, that does them good in states like north carolina and arkansas. and gives them the political cover to vote on other issues that are further down the chain. but are still helpful. yes, exactly. and this will be one of the things to see, whether or not we get a reprise, to give it a vote refrain. good to see you both, thank you for joining us. thank you, ezra. what is different about our military spending, and why i think the defense cuts in the sequester, if done well, could certainly be a good thing. that is next. , bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please.
74%, don t cut energy, 76% don t want to cut environmental protection or agriculture. 77% don t want to cut scientific research or anti-terrorism defenses. 81%, 81% don t want to cut roads and infrastructure. 82% don t want to cut medicare or anti-crime programs. 83% don t want to cut food and drug programs. 87% don t want to cut social security, 89% don t want to cut education, and 91% don t want to cut veteran s benefits. and there, in one poll is the republican s problem in dealing with the sequester. and that is why the white house feels it is increasingly doing well. government is like the america s friend with benefits. we don t say we love it. or even really say we like it like that. we wouldn t hold its hand in public, we tell it all the time,
when the democrats talk about tax reform and say they want to replace the sequester and almost all the defense cuts with revenues, what they are saying specifically is they want to limit itemized deductions for the rich. now those words, that is kind of policy term. doesn t mean much to most people. but when you hear it, this is what you should hear politicians say. they want to limit tax policies, to donate the charity, pay their state and local taxes and to buy homes. that is what the itemized deductions are for the rich, the state and local tax deduction, overwhelmingly. we re talking about cutting them for rich people when we talk about the deficit. that is what president obama wants to do in the compromise. and the republican s response to it is absolutely not. they completely prefer the sequester to that. i don t understand either side s position here. i don t understand why liberals would prefer to fund the government through a mechanism
i can t over state what the cuts would do to our military, essentially hollowing out our armed military forces. and the president laid out no plan for the sequester. that we re convinced would hollow out the force and inflict serious damage to the national defense. all right. if the sequester goes into effect, the full cut to the defense budget will be about 31%. think about that, shathe war on terror increased, and the cut to the defense budget, even with the sequester, will be less than it was either of those. it kind of puts all the doom saying in perspective, doesn t it? now, sequester is a really stupid way to cut the defense budget. i m not arguing that point. it is brain dead, but that $500 billion cut, that level of cut is not necessarily stupid to make to the defense budget.
definitely not for people with firearms which seems sort of an odd thing. but i think, you know, this is a debate that goes on. the assault weapons ban is dead, you talk to the white house. they don t even mention it. they talk about gun trafficking and the background checks. but in some ways, the assault weapons ban will give the moderate democrats in these states like north carolina. if they were able to go to the senate floor, that does them good in states like north carolina and arkansas. and gives them the political cover to vote on other issues that are further down the chain. but are still helpful. yes, exactly. and this will be one of the things to see, whether or not we get a reprise, to give it a vote refrain. good to see you both, thank you for joining us. thank you, ezra. what is different about our military spending, and why i think the defense cuts in the sequester, if done well, could