Pentagon leaders continue push against sequestration

Government Executive ^ | 23 Jan 13 | Charles S. Clark

[SkyPilot]

With the revised deadline for preventing automatic spending cuts only six weeks away, the Defense Department continues its pleas to Congress to come up with a new budget deal because national security readiness “is at a tipping point.”

On Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said reluctant preparations for sequestration are a drag on the department. “We’re investing a great number of manhours, resources and intensive planning for sequestration, which we, of course, hope to avoid,” he said.

“When you have [forward deployed] service members who are asking about appropriations, that’s a signal to me that [it’s] weighing on their minds,” Little said. When sequestration, continuing resolutions and appropriations become discussion points in Kabul, Vicenza or on Okinawa, that is a sign the debate in Washington is having a negative effect on troop morale, he continued. He said that his own level of awareness has increased with service members’ worries about their families, benefits and ability to complete their mission. The seven members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently sent a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and other congressional defense and appropriations leaders. “We are on the brink of creating a hollow force due to an unprecedented convergence of budget conditions and legislation,” they wrote. “Troops on the front lines will receive the support they need, but the rest of the force will be compromised.” That could include grounding aircraft, returning ships to port and stopping the driving of combat vehicles for training.

“We are now planning for the potential to furlough up to nearly 800,000 defense civilians who are essential to critical functions like maintenance, intelligence, logistics, contracting and health care,” they said.”

[SkyPilot]

Looks like the Democrats are going to hold a gun to the military's head, trying to get even more taxes. They know the damage this is causing and is going to cause, but they are still holding the hostage.

"A Levin spokeswoman told Government Executive Wednesday the senator does not plan to reply to the Joint Chiefs’ letter, citing the senator’s Jan. 2 statement after passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act delaying sequestration. “As we seek in the coming months a more comprehensive approach to avoid sequestration, one that will require both prudent spending cuts and additional revenues, it is imperative that we focus on the hundreds of billions of dollars lost to tax avoidance schemes,” Levin said. “Closing offshore tax loopholes and ending corporate tax avoidance gimmicks will help us avoid the harmful automatic cuts to important domestic and national security priorities and make the tax system fairer.”

[SpaceBar]

“Pentagon leaders” may well refer to a group of old men in Beijing who need rhino horn or bear bile to get a hard-on.

[Pentagon Leatherneck]

This is an incredibly demoralizing situation for the troops, although no imaginable sequestration scenario will see active duty folks lose money. They all recognize that civilians are “the back bench” that helps them perform their missions.

Actual planning guidance is being issued in the Pentagon for days off without pay, and that causes demoralization which spreads throughout the forces.

If only there was a way to punish Legislators who cannot or will not do their jobs, which all of us do and will continue to do with or without compensation.

TC

[SunkenCiv]

Venezuela is working on a nuclear weapon; Iran is; the illegal Pyongyang regime already has one (allegedly); and Zero has already stated that he wants the US to unilaterally disarm itself.

Did anyone think the Demagogic Party wound not support that?

Thanks SkyPilot.

[bravo whiskey]

the 3Ps (Perfumed Princes of the Pentagon) don’t care about the troops anymore; just their butts and retirement consulting fees.