MITT ROMNEY PENS OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT
OBAMA AHEAD OF VIRGINIA VISIT
Boston, MA – Mitt Romney today
wrote an open letter to President Obama ahead of his visit to Virginia.
The full letter ran in the The Virginian-Pilot.
Welcome
to Virginia, Mr. President! Home of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, the
fighters at Langley AFB, the storied Marine Base at Quantico,
tens of
thousands of veterans from the Battle of Guadalcanal to the Battle of
Fallujah, and countless other proud military units, factories, and
bases, the Commonwealth is a proud state with a proud history.
Unfortunately,
the defense cuts you signed into law will hit Virginians hard. Your
insistence on slashing our military to pay the tab for your
irresponsible spending could see over 200,000 troops forced from
service. It will shut the doors on factories and shipyards that support
our warfighters, take a heavy toll on the guard and reserves, and
potentially shutter Virginia military bases. It will shrink our Navy
below a level that is already not adequate for protecting our national
security. Mr. President, our troops, military families, and veterans
want to know why defense is the only part of the federal budget you are
willing to cut. They deserve better.
Under
your administration, the backlog for wounded warriors receiving their
disability has nearly doubled, and unemployment among young returning
veterans is in double digits. The effect of forcing 200,000 additional
service members out of uniform and into a faltering economy, sending
them from the front lines to the unemployment lines, will overwhelm
overburdened state offices like the Virginia Department of Veterans
Services. It will impose suffering and hardship on so many
military
families.
Every
service member, veteran, and military family member in Virginia and the
nation will be touched by your defense cuts. So will Virginia’s
businesses and industry, large and small alike. From 2001-2010, over
14,000 Virginia businesses provided goods and services for our national
defense. Unfortunately, the huge economic impact of these looming cuts
is not the end of it.
Your
own Secretary of Defense has said that they will be “devastating” to
our national security, the same as “shooting ourselves in the head.”
But when Congress presented you a way out of this mess, a mess of your
own making, you threatened to veto their bill. And the reason you gave,
Mr. President, is that you would not stop devastating cuts to our
national security unless Congress agreed to raise our taxes.
I
will use my authority as Commander-in-Chief to protect the troops, not
veto efforts to protect them. I will never allow our national security
to be held hostage to extract political concessions. The ultimate
responsibility for securing our national defense rests with the
President. I will work to solve our security problems, not spend my
time shifting blame.
Virginians
know that change is coming, Mr. President. In November, they will make
it happen. That is what this election is about.