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Fmqw Tim Pawlenty eyes return to national stage, reflecting on Al Franken seat
Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel is recommending shrinking the Army to its smallest size since the buildup to U.S. involvement in World War II in an effort to balance postwar defense needs with budget realities.Hagel announced that and other recommendations Monday in a speech at the Pentagon outlining his priorities for next year s defense b stanley cups udget. He also recommended billions of dollars in cuts that would reduce housing allowances and other benefits, a move that is sure to be controversial when he brings his budget before Congress next week.Army leaders have been saying for months that they expect their size would shrink as the nation prepares to end its combat role in Afghanistan this year. Hagel said that this budget is the first to fully reflect the transition Department of Defense] is making after 13 years of war.Hagel to recommend deep budget cuts targeting pay, benefits Our recommendations favor a smaller and more capable force, putting a premium on rapidly deployable, self-sustaining platforms, Hagel said. The Army, which is the largest of the armed services, current stanley cup ly has 522,000 active-duty soldiers and is scheduled to shrink to 490,000 by 2015 from a wartime peak of 570,000. Hagel proposed cutting it fu stanley tumblers rther to between 440,000 and 450,000.Earlier this month, Gen. Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff, told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that an army of 420,000 would be too small for a world that Rjpn Second woman to allege Herschel Walker paid for abortion says she felt threatened
SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages News AnalysisVice President Joe Biden spent much of Thursday night s vice presidential debatesmiling - often incredulously - at the comments of rival Paul Ryan.He wasn t the only Democrat smiling. Thanks to President Obama s widely-panned debate performance last week, supporters of the current administration have been despondent over polls that show Mitt Romney pulling even in the race. It wasn t just that the president s national polling lead had disappeared - it stanley cup was that the man leading the charge was so passive and passionless when given the chance to make his case to the American people.No one is going to accuse Biden of a lack of passion. He dominated stanley cup the debate: The oft-smirking vice president made a passionate case for the Obama administration s performance over the past four years and regularly interrupted his rival, deeming his claims what we Irish call...malarkey. After pointing out that Ryan had solicited stimulus funds despite attacking the stimulus package, Biden burst into laughter in response to Ryan s sputtering defense, saying, I love that, I love that. Republicans immediately deemed the performance unhinged, but it was a tonic for Democrats: A forceful articulation of the values in which they believe and an unapologetic attack on the Republican argument. Ryan, for stanley cup the record, was perfectly fine. Biden kept him on the defensive, but the Wiscons