Cuts to non-discretionary elements of the federal budget would be highly controversial, but they should be on the table as the Obama administration and Congress seek to strengthen the U.S. economy by reducing the federal deficit, according to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Fiournoy. "This is very challenging," Fiournoy said April 28. "These are the most controversial political topics. But I think as we endeavor to take a bipartisan approach, and an approach that's shared between the executive branch and the Congress, we have to take on those non-discretionary elements of the budget as well as the strategy-driven discretionary portions." Fiournoy did not identify individual controversial topics. The following night, a Pentagon spokeswoman clarified that Fiournoy was referring to overall spending on federal benefits such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
展开▼
