G. K. Butterfield: “We are merely 5 days into the sequester, this totally engineered crisis that did not need to happen. We're already…”

“We are merely 5 days into the sequester, this totally engineered crisis that did not need to happen. We're already beginning to feel the impacts of sequestration. My home State of North Carolina hosts the third largest military population in the country. Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station are integral parts of their local communities and also help to form the backbone of our national defense. The sequester has already impacted the Coast Guard, with air operations being cut by 11 percent and maritime operations cut by 24 percent. These cuts have reduced maritime safety and security in the waters off of our coastline. Furlough notices have already gone out to thousands of civilian employees at Fleet Readiness Center, where maintenance is conducted on Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. The furlough amounts to a loss of $81 million. The 848 employees at Butner Federal Correctional Center, located in my district, received furlough notices and will lose up to 10 percent of their salaries because of sequestration. The impacts of the sequester are already being felt in Martin County, where the public school system has lost $400,000. This means that teachers are stretched even thinner and are forced to do more with significantly less. Madam Speaker, we need to rethink the sequester. ____________________”