[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 17, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H4532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EFFECTS OF SEQUESTER

  (Mrs. DAVIS of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. DAVIS of California. Madam Speaker, this week, over 650,000 
civilian employees of the Department of Defense are required to begin 
taking involuntary furlough days. Over 25,000 of these employees reside 
in San Diego. This represents about a 20 percent pay cut for the next 3 
months for these public servants. This pay cut is in addition to the 
fact that Federal employees have not received their standard salary 
adjustments for the past 3 years.
  These salary cuts have a very damaging effect on the employees and on 
their families, an effect which should be clear to all of us; but they 
also have disastrous secondary effects. I am worried particularly about 
the impact these cuts will have on the recruitment and retention of the 
civilian workforce. As one of my San Diegan constituents in the Federal 
workforce said:

       Furloughs send a very demoralizing and humiliating message 
     to all Federal employees, one that suggests that we are not 
     valued and that the work we do is not valued.

  We must do better. We can start by appointing budget conferees 
immediately.

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