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Wilson Hosts Sequestration Roundtable Discussion

April 5, 2012

This morning, Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02) hosted a roundtable with military, business, and community leaders to discuss the potential impacts of sequestration on South Carolina. Due to the passage of the Budget Control Act of 2011, the Department of Defense is expected to suffer an automatic $600 billion budget cut. These cuts will not be used to reduce our growing national deficit, but instead will be shifted from defense to other departments and agencies.

"First of all, I would like to thank the tremendous leaders in our community for speaking today and expressing the impacts sequestration could have on each individual field within our economy. Because South Carolina has such a large military population, these budget cuts will put jobs at risk. In Fiscal Year 2013 alone, South Carolina could lose over $481 million in defense contracts, which will destroy thousands of jobs within the private sector. Additionally, if sequestration occurs, South Carolina's military population may decline by almost 7,500 personnel. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has warned that such a drastic decrease will result in the smallest Navy since the beginning of World War I, smallest Army and Marine Corps since the beginning of World War II and the smallest Air Force in our nation's history.

"The national government's number one priority should be to maintain a strong and secure national defense by providing peace through strength. House Armed Service Chairman Buck McKeon is committed to preventing these drastic defense cuts from taking place and has proposed legislation blocking the implementation of these reductions entitled the "Down Payment to Protect National Security Act of 2011" (H.R. 3662). As Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, I look forward to working with Chairman McKeon to ensure this legislation passes the House of Representatives in order to protect our nation's military capabilities and to keep our Armed Forces and their families secure."