[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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