Sequestration Effects

Floor Speech

Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, last week, the Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, announced that the furloughs of civilian DOD employees will be 11 days for the balance of this fiscal year. This decision, driven by sequestration, is damaging and degrading the military readiness of our country. These are individuals who provide critical services for the men and women in uniform who serve all across America and all across the world.

Sequestration is acting like a slow-acting poison, which is now affecting the economy. Moody's Investor Services announced last week that it will take a full point off of GDP growth this year and will result in, over time, the loss of 700,000 jobs.

It is time for this institution to focus on this self-inflicted damage that Congress caused by not turning off sequester as previous Congresses back in the eighties and nineties did when sequestration was in effect.

We should stop wasting our time on repeal debates for health care--37 times as of last week--and focus on what's really important in the immediate future. It's to turn off sequester. It is time for the leadership of this House to stop wasting our time and get focused on the issue that matters the most to the American people.

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