WASHINGTON — President Obama paid tribute to retiring Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and then issued an urgent plea against “indiscriminate” cuts to military spending, which will occur if he and Congress can’t agree on a budget deal by March 1.
“There is no reason — no reason — for that to happen,” Obama told a crowd of service members in Fort Myer, Va.
He said the situation calls for a “balanced approach — not massive indiscriminate cuts that could have a severe impact on our military preparedness.”
Sequestration — $85 billion in automatic spending cuts — hits the military and other agencies next month unless legislators can reach a deal.
Panetta, who also served as director of the CIA, thanked his wife, Sylvia, and praised his dog, Bravo — who, he said, sat in on many secret Osama bin Laden meetings.
“I want you to know that he has never told a soul what he heard. He is definitely not a leaker, at least according to that definition of the word,” Panetta quipped.