[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12184]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  SOUNDING THE ALARM ON SEQUESTRATION

  (Mr. RIGELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RIGELL. Madam Speaker, I join my colleagues this morning to sound 
the alarm of a serious threat facing our country, one that has been 
addressed by this body and now awaits action by the Senate and the 
President. It is not an external threat, but one that is totally within 
our control. Known as sequestration, this sharp severe cut to our 
defense budget can and must be stopped.
  The warnings from the Secretary of Defense and each of our service 
chiefs must be heeded. The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Greenert, 
described it this way. He said the cuts would do ``severe and 
irreversible damage'' to our Navy.
  Madam Speaker, where is the President's outrage at this prospect? 
Where is his leadership in his role as Commander in Chief?
  The House passed legislation which would stop the cuts. My amendment 
to the National Defense Authorization Act requires the Senate to 
address it head-on.
  Madam Speaker, we've led. I truly believe that we've taken action to 
stop the cuts. The irrefutable truth is that the same is not true of 
the Senate and the administration.
  Now, we have time to do what is right, but that time is short. I call 
on the President and the Senate to do what is right: to lead, to lead 
by example, to bring us together as a nation to stop the cuts. We must 
look to the future and shape the future, not look behind us.

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