[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10934]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        EFFECTS OF SEQUESTRATION

  (Mr. GALLEGO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak out against the 
effects of sequestration on the Department of Defense employees and 
their families.
  Starting this week, 650,000-or-so Department of Defense employees 
across the country will go a day a week without pay for 11 weeks. I am 
appalled that the previous Congress would authorize such a measure. 
Here is what these furloughs mean for Texas families and our State as a 
whole:
  Approximately 45,000 Department of Defense civilian employees in 
Texas will be furloughed. The cuts will specifically hurt families in 
the 23rd Congressional District who work at Joint Base San Antonio, 
Fort Bliss in El Paso, and Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio. Today, 
in fact, the El Paso Times reported that furloughs will affect 11,000 
civilian employees at Fort Bliss and at Beaumont Army Medical Center.
  One day a week for 11 weeks, that results in $3,300 in lost wages per 
employee; and it means that, on average, most of these workers will 
effectively receive a 20 percent salary cut each pay period for the 
rest of the fiscal year. Do the math, and that's nearly $149 million 
lost in Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, with every passing day, thousands of jobs are at risk. 
We have to put politics aside and work through the issue of 
sequestration.

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