Cheat Sheet: Tonight's Foreign Policy Debate

 

Share

0

Expect both candidates to be pressed for more details on what they would do to address the loss of jobs in the United States to cheap labor in China and how the U.S. economy can compete with China's in the future.

Defense Spending: Strong Military and Automatic Cuts

At the end of 2012, the Department of Defense may face mandatory, across the board $500 billion budget cuts, also known as "sequestration," if Congress fails to agree on a long-term deficit reduction plan.

Final Presidential Debate: What Role Will Iran Play? Watch Video

Your Voice, Your Vote: The Final Debate Watch Video

First Lady Debate Watch Video

The cuts would come on top of the $100 billion in savings that former Defense Secretary Bob Gates announced in 2010 that the department would find over five years in response to increased fiscal belt tightening and the need to reduce waste.

Both Obama and Romney oppose the $500 billion cut to the defense budget and agree that the cuts would be detrimental to the country's national security.

Romney has argued in past debates that if Obama is re-elected, those "arbitrary" cuts would go into effect. And he has said that as president, he would boost military spending to 4 percent of GDP in an effort to strengthen national security.

Obama's policy has been to pursue "nation-building here at home" by using the savings from drawing down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to reduce the deficit and to invest in domestic infrastructure projects.