WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Two veteran U.S. congressmen have called for the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Japan amid the ballooning U.S. budget deficit.

"It's becoming a financial issue," Ron Paul, an isolationist Republican House of Representatives member from Texas, said in a recent interview, indicating that maintaining U.S. forces in Japan has become a financial burden for Washington.

Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio, said in a separate interview: "The United States truly cannot afford to construct the new base in Okinawa. Nor can it afford to have a military presence across the globe."