"it was never the objective of Gramm-Rudman to trigger a sequester. The objective of Gramm-Rudman was to have the threat of the sequester force compromise and action."
"that really should be what we are focused on."
"And that is our job, that is really how we fix this, not sort of finger pointing about whether or not people were doing planning for the indiscriminate cuts which Secretary Carter described those I th..."
"the fact is is that Congress still has more work to do in terms of the CR and its impact in terms of keeping a fleet that is ready to fulfill its mission."
"And obviously it has a ripple effect on the workforce when you cancel repairs, you know, planning for having folks in the shipyards obviously takes a hit when that happens."
"We can't continue to run a trillion-dollar deficit every year and not have it impact every aspect of our society."
"I personally think at this point we need to stop torturing the discretionary portion of the budget."
"the objective of Gramm-Rudman was to have the threat of the sequester force compromise and action."
"the fact is, though, that the Navy has other issues here in terms of CR's impact on your O&M account, repair and maintenance."
"this is not stuff that, you know, again, you can just sort of eat with a flat line from last year's CR."
"the President called for a drawdown to 34,000 troops by the end of this year."
"Nobody wants the sequester. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever."