Date: 2013-02-27
Speaker: AUSTIN SCOTT (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Georgia

Thank you. Mr. WESTMORELAND. I certainly enjoyed serving with you in the Georgia House where we balanced the budget on an annual basis and made cuts certainly much larger than this on a percentage basis. Quite honestly. we did it on an annual or a semiannual basis when we were there. I want to point out one thing that you talked about thats not being talked about much here. and that is that the total cut that were talking about is a little less than 2.5 percent of Federal spending. The problem with the sequester is not that its an unreasonable amount thats being cut. its where its being cut from. So here we are less than 48 hours from the Presidents sequester. our Commander in Chiefs sequester. thats going to go into effect and set into place $1.2 trillion over the course. ladies and gentlemen. of 10 years. Thats one of the things that needs to be pointed out. Its not $1.2 trillion over the course of this year. its over 10 years. So youre talking about $100 billion a year out of a little better than a $3 trillion annual budget. Of this cut that our Commander in Chief has insisted on. over half of that is going to come from national defense and our men and women in uniform and our civilian workforce and taking its toll on them. Our Secretary of Defense. Leon Panetta. I thought did a great job when he actually explained it as hollowing out our military. He told the truth about that and just what the Commander in Chiefs budget reductions were going to do to our military. Obviously. we have a new Secretary of Defense coming in now. and I cant help but wonder if Secretary Panetta speaking out about what those cuts were going to do to the military isnt one of the things that maybe led to his replacement. On October 22just to give you a couple of specificsin his campaign for election as our Nations Commander in Chief. the President promised that his sequestration "would not happen." The President. the Commander in Chief. promised that it would not happen. He went to great lengths to assure Americans that are working in our military and on our military bases. our civilian workforceI represent Robins Air Force Basehe told them this will not happen. He told our defense contractors to not comply with the law and actually issue the notices that were required under the law that furloughs and layoffs may be coming. I personally think it was politically motivated. but thats just a personal stance of mine. Mr. Speaker. On February 6. I asked the President for a solution. I sent a letter. Ive got the letter right here. Im sure that somebody at the White House got it. We have never gotten any response from any letter that we have sent to the White House as a Member of Congress. We simply asked him to give us a written proposal on what he would do given his choice of having it exactly his way and replacing the sequester. Again. no response. no action. On February 15. he came to our State. Georgia. and didnt go to any of our military installations. We have seven major military installations and over a dozen major military communities in the State of Georgia. He went to a county and he talked about expanding the role of the Federal Government in public education as we were approaching the sequester. The men and women at Robins Air Force Base and the other bases were left wondering what was going to happen to their paycheck. He did not even address the issue while he was in Georgia with our seven major military installations and our 12 major military communities. Mr. Speaker. I didnt vote for the sequester. but what Ill tell you is Im reminded of what Teddy Roosevelt said when I look at the national debt and the things were facing right now: The best thing to do is the right thing. the next best thing is the wrong thing. and the worst thing is nothing. We have to cut Federal spending or were going to rob the next generation of Americans of the American Dream. So I would say that here we are as a House having passed two separate bills to undo the Presidents sequester and 48 hours prior to the sequester going into action. and all weve heard from the President is just words. He hasnt had the guts to put a proposal in writing before this House for the American people to see. Here we are. Mr. Speaker. at the 11th hour with no action from the President. no response to my letter or any other Members letter. to my knowledge. no plan to Congress. no plan to America. Hes just a President. a Commander in Chief thats willing to let this happen to our military. Half the cuts are coming from our military. What kind of Commander in Chief do we have? Congressman. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today and thank you so much for doing this.