Defense Contractors Plan Pre-Election Layoff Warnings

Which is sort of a huge FU to the White House

Major defense contractors have confirmed they'll send tens of thousands of employee layoff warnings shortly before Election Day, according to correspondence released Monday by Arizona Sen. John McCain.

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, wants to jump-start congressional action to avert automatic, across-the-board budget restrictions set to take effect early next year. Hawks and defense vendors hope the threat of mass layoff warnings in late October will light a fire under a deadlocked Congress. Already, they point out the mere threat of the year-end "sequester" is hurting the defense industry and the broader national economy.