McCain in Norfolk Monday for town hall

WAVY TV

Updated: Jul 31, 2012 12:32 AM

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Senators John McCain ( R-Ariz .), Lindsey Graham ( R-S.C .) and Kelly Ayotte ( R-N.H .) participated in a town hall-style meeting July 30 in Norfolk.

The three members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee spoke about defense cuts scheduled to take place next year under sequestration.

According to McCain's Arizona office, the Department of Defense has already approved reduction of defense spending by nearly $500 billion over 10 years. The cuts under sequestration the senators will be discussing would add another $500 billion on top of that.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sequestration Transparency Act earlier this month, mandating President Barack Obama to detail in the next 30 days how the additional $500 billion would affect the Department of Defense.

"Secretary Panetta has testified before the Armed Services Committee that we would be shooting ourselves in the head if we allow this so-called sequestration to go forward in January," Kelly said.

"Everybody knows that there's got to be some kind of resolution of all of this," McCain said. "We want to give it a year for them to have the chance to do so. And frankly, that's probably all we can do."

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) spoke to WAVY.com about the importance of bi-partisanship in this case.

"The only way we can avoid these cuts is if people in both political parties get out of their foxhole," Warner said. "Republicans be willing to do some additional revenue, democrats be willing to do some of the entitlement reform so Medicare can actually be in existence 30 years from now."

The event was held at 5 p.m. July 30 at the Half Moone Cruise Terminal at the Norfolk Waterside.

The Norfolk town hall is one of several meetings the senators will be holding in July. The other meetings will be held in Tampa, Fla., Fayetteville, N.C. and Merrimack, N.H.

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