Inhofe Update on Sequestration
The coming week will prove to be among the most important for the future of our country and national defense. Throughout the week, the Senate will vote on the most controversial Secretary of Defense nominee in our history and also consider proposals to avert the irresponsible defense cuts put into place by the President’s sequestration. Since the President took office, he has cut upwards of $600 billion from the defense budget while increasing non-defense spending by 30 percent. His sequestration set to take effect on Friday will force the Department of Defense to absorb another $492 billion in budget reductions, which senior military officials say will hollow out our Armed Forces. It’s time the President works with Congress to find cuts within our country’s out-of-control budget as well as protect our national defense and honor the sacrifices already being made by our military men and women.
As proposals are considered and debated in the Senate this week, I believe it is imperative to remember that the members of our military, their families, civilian employees and the communities that support the armed services have sacrificed enormously through the last decade of war. Our civilian employees have suffered through pay-freezes with tax hikes and cost-of-living increases. Our courageous military members have sacrificed through numerous deployments and decreased benefits for their spouses and children. As I outlined in an editorial piece last week with House Armed Services Committee Chairman, Buck McKeon, defense spending is not what’s driving our indefensible national debt, yet this is the population the President has required to make enormous sacrifices while refusing to consider reforms to unsustainable mandatory spending.
I received more alarming reports this week from Oklahoma’s military and community leaders. President Obama had told them during his campaign that sequestration “will not happen.” Now, more than 20,000 Oklahomans are at risk of being furloughed. Oklahomans’ paychecks will be reduced but their bills will continue to mount. I was told that many of our DOD civilians facing furloughs will have to decide between their car payment or home payment. After three years of recession, their rainy day funds have already vaporized. As they tighten their belts again, so will the surrounding communities and small businesses.
I share the anxiety Oklahomans are facing as sequestration goes unresolved. I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Senate to ensure we find a solution to defense cuts in sequestration that maintains a strong national defense and honors the sacrifices already being made by our men and women in service.
Sincerely,
U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe