New Year's deal left Pentagon facing $45 billion in cuts - comptroller

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The New Year's Day law that delayed across-the-board cuts in U.S. defence spending by two months also trimmed the size of the reduction for the 2013 fiscal year by about $17 billion, the Pentagon's chief financial officer said on Monday. Defence Department Comptroller Robert Hale said the cuts that would be required in March if Congress is unable to agree on a compromise alternative would be roughly $45 billion under the new law, versus about $62 billion earlier. ...