Romney: Ryan made 'big mistake' by supporting military cuts

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is blasting a decision made by his own vice presidential nominee, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), to support cuts to defense spending.

"I want to maintain defense spending at the current level of the GDP," Romney told NBC's David Gregory in an interview that aired on Sunday. "I don’t want to keep bringing it down as the president’s doing. This sequestration idea of the White House, which is cutting our defense, I think is an extraordinary miscalculation in the wrong direction."

"Republican leaders agreed to that deal to extend the debt ceiling," Gregory pointed out.

"And that’s a big mistake," Romney insisted. "I thought it was a mistake on the part of the White House to propose it. I think it was a mistake for Republicans to go along with it."

Although Ryan has since criticized the bill that would trigger automatic cuts to the military budget, he was one of 174 Republicans who voted for sequestration.

"You can’t throw $700 billion at a government agency and not expect waste to occur," the Wisconsin Republican said in January 2011.

Watch this video from NBC's Meet the Press, broadcast Sept. 9, 2012.

(h/t: Think Progress)