Washington ( CNN ) -- The showdown over who will bear the brunt of deep cuts to government spending has become a game of political poker with the nation 's troops caught in the middle , political experts and members of the military say . As he prepares to leave office , Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sounded a dire warning about the need to limit military pay to a 1 % increase in 2014 , effectively decreasing troop salaries next year , if the automatic cuts , called sequester , go into effect , an agency official told CNN . First on CNN : Panetta to recommend pay cut for military . `` This shadow , the shadow of sequestration , this legislative madness that was designed to be so bad , so bad , that no one in their right mind would let it happen , '' Panetta said in a speech at Georgetown University on Wednesday . `` For those of you who have ever seen ( the movie ) 'Blazing Saddles , ' it is the scene of the sheriff putting the gun to his head in order to establish law and order . That is sequestration . '' Panetta warns of degraded military readiness from spending cuts . The Pentagon has calculated that the Labor Department 's 2014 Employment Cost Index is expected to be above 1 % , but wants to still reduce pay because of `` budget uncertainties , '' a government official told CNN . In 2013 , a 1.7 % increase was approved , based on the index , which has been the basis for military pay for the past several years . Panetta is stepping up rhetoric about the impact of sequestration on the Pentagon if Congress does not agree to a plan in coming weeks to avert it . Sequestration would cut across the government , but would hit the Pentagon especially hard . The military would face roughly $ 500 million in spending cuts over 10 years on top of a similar amount already in the pipeline . President Barack Obama previously walled off the military from a reduction in pay so if this current compensation plan goes into effect , it 's widely seen as `` cutting our pay , '' one military officer familiar with the plan told CNN . `` It 's a smart move , it puts it in Congress ' hands . '' CNN Explains : Sequestration . Panetta 's comments followed Obama 's call on Tuesday for a short-term agreement to avert sequestration , which was created by Congress in 2011 to be so draconian that lawmakers would strike a budget deal and avoid the cuts . But now , the deadline for action is coming up next month and there 's no deal in sight . Obama calls for short-term fix to imminent spending cuts . Top Republicans on the House and Senate Armed Services committees released their own approach for temporarily staving off the brunt of those cuts by cutting some federal jobs through attrition . `` America 's military has absorbed $ 487 billion in defense cuts under President Obama , with $ 500 billion yet to come with sequestration . Refusing to consider reforms to the mandatory spending that is driving our debt crisis , while using our troops as a piggy bank to keep unsustainable spending programs on life support , will have both fiscal and strategic consequences , '' Rep. Howard P. `` Buck '' McKeon , R-Calif. , chairman of the House Armed Services Committee , and Sen. James Inhofe , R-Okla. , the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee , wrote in a statement . All of this amounts to some pretty high stakes poker , political experts say . `` Scare talk about the effects of spending cuts is common in these circumstances . Mostly , it 's a parade of imaginary horribles . Although this time , the magnitude of the cuts , especially in defense , gives greater force to the dire predictions , '' said Ross Baker , a Rutgers political science professor . Still , the specter of potential cuts worries those on the front lines and their families . `` I feel like when things get tough and the economy goes and they look at cuts they immediately take benefits or pay or housing allowances , '' said Vicky Cody , author of `` Your Soldier , Your Army : A Parent 's Guide '' , the wife of retired Army Gen. Richard Cody and the mother of two members of the military . `` These are the kids who are deploying . Regardless of how people who feel about the war , this is a group of people who need to be compensated for what they do not taken away from , '' she said . Commenters on the story on CNN.com who identified themselves as members of the military were similarly frustrated . `` I am disgusted by this , '' wrote one commenter who identified as AFMEDIC . `` I am in the US military and currently deployed . I get to see and hear what happens to the rest of my military brothers and sisters putting their lives on the line for a country . It is an ugly reality . And what are they getting blown up for ? Why do we spend days , months , and even years away from our families for ? For a country whose leaders do n't believe we are worthy enough to get a decent raise to take care of the families that have to deal with the consequences of our jobs . We are cutting budget everywhere else , why ca n't they cut their own salary ? Where are the priorities of these people ? ? '' A commenter who identified himself as Philip wrote that lots of Americans are n't getting pay raises in the current economy . `` A 1 % pay raise is more of a raise than many Americans have received the last few years combined . Welcome to the new economy ! '' he wrote . `` And do n't give me this 'hero ' BS , as many in the military only joined because they could n't find jobs here . In the military they preach of being part of a team , well enjoy teaming with the civilians who also face hardships in getting paid . '' Hyperbole is all part of an effort to get the other side to blink first , Baker said . `` The number of workers likely to be laid off as a result of the sequester is basically imaginary although there will almost certainly be a slight surge in unemployment , '' Baker said . `` I really do n't think that the Pentagon will cut troop salaries which would hinder recruitment and retention . It 's much more likely that weapons systems will take the hit . '' It 's not the first time both the administration and congressional Republicans have tried to call each other 's bluff over the spending cuts . Last year , President Obama told thousands of veterans at the National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars ' '' Stop playing politics with our military . ' '' By the numbers : Recent defense spending . CNN 's Tom Cohen , Brianna Keilar , Dan Lothian and Barbara Starr contributed to this report .
Leon Panetta expected to recommend smaller-than-anticipated increases in military pay . Panetta steps up rhetoric about impact on Pentagon if automatic spending cuts take effect . Obama recently called on Congress to come up with an alternative to the automatic cuts . Two Republicans propose alternative to cuts in order to protect the military .