Washington has its priorities “a little bit skewed” when it can give sequester flexibility to the Federal Aviation Administration but not to the military, according to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
“Look, I’m for giving the FAA flexibility, but I also want to give the military flexibility, and I don’t want the sequestration cuts to be as steep as they are on national defense,” he said on Sunday morning.
McCain appeared on NBC‘s ‘Meet the Press‘ this week to discuss the issues in Syria. Host David Gregory also asked about the new House legislation to end the FAA furloughs enacted as a result of the automatic budget cuts.
McCain said he supported the legislation, but not the apparent inaction of Congress in other important areas of the sequester.
“Well, I say with all due respect to my friends, it’s a little bit hypocritical,” McCain said. “On the same day when all of the focus was on the delays that we have in getting through airports, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army was saying that we are going — if we don’t reverse this, we’re going to have a hollow army, we’ll be unable to defend the nation and it would take us 10 or 15 years to recover.”
The Arizona Republican added that there savings that can come from the military budget, but that the current cuts are putting the United States at risk when it comes to national security.
