[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H665-H666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SEQUESTRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Williams) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WILLIAMS. Madam Speaker, President Obama's sequester is bad for 
America. There's no getting around it. Good programs are going to be 
cut, good people are going to be furloughed; and bad leadership from 
President Obama is to blame. In the last four years, almost every 
important budget deadline has been met with impasse and little has been 
done to enact a responsible budget.

                              {time}  1020

  Systematic failure to perform the basic responsibilities of governing 
has led us to the catastrophic sequestration we see today.
  President Obama came up with this idea for the sequester as a 
temporary solution for another fiscal crisis in 2011. As we've been 
saying for months, House Republicans are the only ones who have taken 
action to balance the budget. Last Congress, the House passed two 
bills, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act and the Spending 
Reduction Act. However, in recent remarks at the White House, President 
Obama attempted to blame House Republicans--who control only one-half 
of one-third of the government--for the looming cuts.
  If there's going to be a solution, President Obama is going to have 
to work with his own political party in the Senate and negotiate with 
the House. Yet all the President has done so far is call for higher 
taxes again. He got his higher taxes--$600 billion from higher earners, 
with no corresponding spending cuts--at the end of 2012. It seems he 
will not stop until every single American has to hand over more of 
their hard-earned money to the Federal Government--which, I might add, 
has a bad track record of spending it.
  There is no denying that the government spends too much, but these 
blind cuts are irresponsible and will have a disastrous effect on our 
military. Yesterday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff testified at a hearing 
that our national security will be put at risk if they are forced to 
make deep reductions in spending for manpower, training, and equipment 
modernization programs.
  This is no longer a debate between Congress and the White House to 
gain the upper hand. This is real, this is serious, and this is the 
time to take action. In fact, I sent a letter to the President this 
week urging him to act now to prevent the harmful fallout that the 
sequester will cause. I pray that he reads it.
  While Friday does mark the sequester deadline, we have until March 27 
to do the right thing on behalf of our men and women in uniform, as 
well as the hundreds of thousands of employees expected to be 
drastically impacted by the sequester.
  If the President continues his unwillingness to stop campaigning and 
start helping the American people who elected him to lead, then at the 
very least we need to allow the Department of Defense and the 
Department of Veterans Affairs to operate under a budget rather than a 
continuing resolution. This would give them greater flexibility and put 
them in the best possible position to absorb these across-the-board 
cuts. By letting the DOD and VA operate under a budget, these agencies 
can prevent permanent damage from the arbitrary sequester cuts.
  Madam Speaker, I represent Texas' 25th Congressional District, which 
includes a large portion of Fort Hood--one of the largest military 
installations in the world. The United States Army estimates $291 
million in cuts for Fort Hood, including nearly 600 civilian jobs and 
nearly 30,000 jobs statewide.
  This is preventable. And quite frankly, it's totally unacceptable. We 
shouldn't have to move a third bill in the House before the Senate 
finally acts. It's time for President Obama to drop the politics and 
campaign speeches and do something. Putting our public safety, national 
security and economy at risk by letting the sequester pass without 
preventative action is reckless and destructive. Our troops, our 
businesses, and our families deserve better. Americans expect our 
President to lead.

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                Washington, DC, February 25, 2013.
     Hon. Barack H. Obama,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear President Obama: I am writing to express my outrage 
     over the proposed cuts to the Department of Defense as part 
     of the sequestration phase of the Budget Control Act of 2011. 
     As commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, your inaction to 
     prevent these cuts from happening to our military and their 
     families is unconscionable.

[[Page H666]]

       In the 112th Congress, the House of Representatives passed 
     two bills, H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement 
     Reconciliation Act of 2012 and H.R. 6684, the Spending 
     Reduction Act of 2012 which would have canceled the sequester 
     of approximately $98 billion in discretionary defense, 
     discretionary non-defense, and mandatory defense FY2013 
     spending. Neither bill was even considered by the U.S. 
     Senate. The House of Representatives shouldn't have to move a 
     third bill before you or the Senate finally acts.
       Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently stated, ``If 
     sequester happens, it is going to badly damage the readiness 
     of the United States of America. We have the most powerful 
     military force on the face of the earth right now. It is 
     important in terms of providing stability and peace in the 
     world. If sequester goes into effect, and we have to do the 
     kind of cuts that will go right at readiness, right at 
     maintenance, right at training, we are going to weaken the 
     United States. And make it much more difficult for us to 
     respond to the crises in the world.''
       Gen. Martin Dempsey went further in recent testimony before 
     the Senate Armed Services Committee and stated that 
     sequestration would put our military on a path where the 
     ``force is so degraded and so unready'' that it would be 
     ``immoral to use the force.''
       Mr. President, I represent the 25th Congressional District 
     of Texas which includes a large portion of Fort Hood--one of 
     the largest military installations in the world. The United 
     States Army estimates $291 million in cuts for Fort Hood 
     including nearly 600 civilian jobs, and nearly 30 thousand 
     jobs statewide. This is preventable! Let's cut the nonsense--
     drop the politics, drop the campaign speeches, and do 
     something.
       We shouldn't put our national security, public safety, and 
     the economy at risk by letting the sequester pass without 
     preventative action. Our troops, our businesses, and our 
     families deserve better. Mr. President, Americans expect you 
     to lead.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Roger Williams,
     Member of Congress.

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