Kaine urges federal budget action

Sen. Tim Kaine says Congress must get serious about budget issues when it returns from its August recess.

 “We can’t afford to let budgetary stupidity keep us from being proactive about some of these challenges,” Kaine said Tuesday.

He was touring the naval base at Dahlgren, visiting the University of Mary Washington’s Dahlgren campus and talking to the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs council dinner.

Kaine said that the situation in Syria, unrest in Egypt and other issues in the Middle East show that U.S. military officials shouldn’t be distracted by trying to figure out how to cut personnel or work through furlough days caused by the federal sequestration budget cuts.

Military leaders instead need to be able to focus on their mission and on preparing for the next threat, Kaine said.

He hopes that the House and Senate will be able to focus on budget issues this fall, and find a way to mitigate the sequestration cuts caused by Congress’ own inability to reach a more palatable budget plan.

In the next two months, Kaine said, the debt ceiling will be reached again, and the fiscal year ends, two budgetary deadlines that he hopes will spur lawmakers to work on budget questions.

 “We are going to have to work this out,” Kaine said.

Sequestration cuts are not only a distraction to defense leaders, he said, but budget constraints “certainly affects the kinds of options they will put on the table” to deal with situations like Syria.

He said the international community must take action against Syria for its apparent use of chemical weapons against civilians.

 “This is an intolerable step, and a desperate one, by the Assad regime,” Kaine said.

Kaine took a short tour of Dahlgren, watching students learn about ship computer systems and getting a classified briefing on the base’s work to make “direct energy” weapons and systems—including what is essentially a laser gun, among other technologies.

Kaine said he tries to learn something about the armed services during any official visit around Virginia.

He sits on the Senate Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Budget committees, and said he’s just recently been named chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Near East.

That covers many of the world’s conflict hotspots, Kaine said.

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