The Chairman. The committee will come to order.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The House Armed Services Committee meets today to receive testimony on the Department of Defense planning for sequestration, the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 and the way forward.
Thank you all for being here.
This will be the last week the House is in session until mid-November. Today's hearing will provide Members a final opportunity before the lame-duck session to inform themselves and their constituents about how sequestration will be implemented and how those decisions will affect our men and women in uniform and our national security.
We had hoped that the President would provide this information in the report required by the Sequestration Transparency Act. Unfortunately, he failed to comply with both the letter and the spirit of the law. Not only was the report
late, but the report submitted to Congress merely paid lip service to the dire national security implications of these cuts after the President has had over a year to consider this crisis.
Moreover, the White House has even gone so far as to instruct the Department of Defense not to make preparations for sequestration.
advertisement