Francis Rooney: “Keeping our Nation safe is our most important responsibility under the Constitution as Members of Congress. When we talk…”

“Keeping our Nation safe is our most important responsibility under the Constitution as Members of Congress. When we talk about sequestration, we're really asking are we really going to shirk that responsibility, are we really going to cut national defense and force our country to grow weaker and weaker over the next 10 years. If we don't prevent these massive cuts, we'll be left with our smallest ground forces since 1940, fewest ships since 1915, and our smallest Air Force in our history. Our Secretary of Defense says these cuts would be devastating and would seriously damage readiness. Does anything else we really do here matter if we knowingly let our defenses down, if we aren't ready to be able to defend ourselves? If there's wasteful spending in the Pentagon budget that we could cut without impacting national security, then we should do so. I led the fight to kill the extra engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, saving taxpayers billions of dollars. The White House doesn't dispute the impact of these cuts, but won't put forward an alternative. The Majority Leader of the Senate won't schedule a vote on the House bill, but won't introduce a plan either. We have to do something to avoid these massive cuts to keep our country safe. ____________________”