2012 Hawaii Senate Debates: on Homeland Security


Linda Lingle: Don't let up on its defense spending, like pre-WWII

Lingle pressed Hirono on her vote that helped set up the so-called "fiscal cliff" scenario set to take effect in January if Congress can't reach a compromise on spending cuts and tax hikes. Lingle said Hirono shouldn't have supported cuts of $50 billion per year to the military as part of the deal, because the cuts would have crushing effects in Hawaii given the large military presence here. "We can't do a pivot if we're cutting $50 billion" per year in defense, Lingle said.

Hirono said Congress was right to raise the debt ceiling and needs to reach sensible compromise to avoid the deep cuts planned.

Lingle compared today's times with the period between WWI and WWII to say the US shouldn't let up on its defense spending or become more isolated.

Hirono retorted that nobody's talking about weakening national defense, but Tea Party Republicans have said the US should worry more about itself than other countries.

Source: Reuters on 2012 Hawaii Senate debate Oct 20, 2012

Mazie Hirono: Sensible compromise needed on $50 billion military cut

Lingle pressed Hirono on her vote that helped set up the so-called "fiscal cliff" scenario set to take effect in January if Congress can't reach a compromise on spending cuts and tax hikes. Lingle said Hirono shouldn't have supported cuts of $50 billion per year to the military as part of the deal, because the cuts would have crushing effects in Hawaii given the large military presence here. "We can't do a pivot if we're cutting $50 billion" per year in defense, Lingle said.

Hirono said Congress was right to raise the debt ceiling and needs to reach sensible compromise to avoid the deep cuts planned but said Republicans are holding things up because they're not willing to allow taxes to go up for the wealthiest Americans. "We now have a Congress where people are perfectly fine sending our country over the economic cliff," Hirono said. Hirono concluded that nobody's talking about weakening national defense, but the Tea Party has said the US should worry more about itself than other countries.

Source: Reuters on 2012 Hawaii Senate debate Oct 20, 2012

  • The above quotations are from 2012 Hawaii Senate Debate.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Homeland Security.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Ed Case on Homeland Security.
  • Click here for more quotes by Linda Lingle on Homeland Security.
Candidates and political leaders on Homeland Security:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 04, 2018