House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon made the following statement regarding Secretary Chuck Hagel’s announcement of DOD civilian employee furloughs:

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“For two years now, members of the Armed Services Committee have warned that sequestration would wound our national security and our economy.

“The pain from the first two rounds of President Obama’s defense cuts are now being felt. Furloughs are just the beginning. Sequester’s pain will intensify and strengthen. It will get far worse before it gets better.

“In the time since the White House first conceived of sequester, I have urged the President to find a reasonable way to rein in the debt without hurting the economy or compromising our national security. He still has it within his power to fix sequestration, a responsibility no other member of government can claim.

“House Republicans have advanced multiple balanced solutions that could spare those who support our national security this uncertainty and hardship.  Unfortunately, the President has taken no such step.

“I fear that the President’s inaction has made saving our military from sequester in 2013 a lost cause.  My hope is that President Obama reads Congress’ clear intent that sequester be replaced in 2014 as an opportunity to finally show leadership; the signs are not promising.

“The White House has repeatedly delayed sending Congress a vital reprogramming proposal that could plug some of the cracks in our readiness that sequester has already created.

The President has also failed to send Congress his funding request for our troops in Afghanistan.   I am ready and willing to work with him to prevent the debt crisis from growing into a national security crisis, but his inaction promotes uncertainty and increases risk.”

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Source: Santa Clarita News
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