Congressman: Obama used national security as ‘political football’

Bill Spadea recently spoke with Congressman Tom MacArthur about President Obama is pushing back against an effort to fund New Jersey's Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

This morning Chairman of the Armed Services Committee Congressman Mac Thornberry called to discuss what he's doing to help save the military base.

Obama recently signed legislation setting U.S. defense policy for the next year — and that includes funding for the base. But he first vetoed an earlier version of the bill, objecting to Republicans' efforts to increase defense spending beyond existing caps without doing the same for domestic spending.

The version of the National Defense Authorization Act Obama finally agreed to sign increased spending for both, after negotiations with Congress.

Thanks to MacArthur's persistent rallying on behalf of McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Thornberry will soon be visiting the base, which he said is the only place in the nation where all three military branches serve together.

According to Thornberry, the battle over funding this location is an example of how the White House is playing politics with America's safety.

"The point is he was willing to put national security out there as a political football," said Thornberry of Obama's veto of the earlier draft of the National Defense Authorization Act. "And that's just never happened from a commander-in-chief before, and it's sure never happened with the sort of dangerous world we have."

According to him, the president's veto of the bill's earlier version was an attempt to force Congress to pass other motions, and his actions put more pressure on the Legislative Branch to try and keep our country safe in a time where terrorism is at the forefront of everyone's mind.

Thornberry also said it's discouraging that Obama has brought climate change into the discussion of terrorism as this distracts from the key issue, but Congress continues to try and best assess and respond to these threats.

Kira Buxton is producer of The Jim Gearhart Show and a professional photographer-videographer. You can reach her at kira.buxton@townsquaremedia.com or on Twitter @kirabuxton.