DEFENSE CUTS - AT 1:19 P.M. ET:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate defense committee chairman says the Pentagon budget will include large, painful cuts. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Tuesday that major program cuts will not be pushed off until the 2011 budget, but will be included when Defense Secretary Robert Gates sends his spending plan to the president later this month.

COMMENT:  We are handing trillions over to failed corporations, but we're cutting our defense budget in the face of threats that are rising, not falling.  Will Republicans object, or sleepwalk through it?  The impression of Carter II continues to grow.

March 31, 2009