Kelly Ayotte: “I join with my colleagues over the concern, deep concern that keeps me up at night about sequestration, because we…”

“I join with my colleagues over the concern, deep concern that keeps me up at night about sequestration, because we cannot do this to our national security. Both sides of the aisle have to come together. We need leadership from our Commander in Chief on this issue. To put it in perspective, I asked the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps what the impact of sequestration would be on the Marines. Do you know what he told me? That the Marine Corps of the United States of America would be unable to respond to one major contingency. Talk about putting our country at risk and putting ourselves in a situation where unfortunately there are still so many risks around the world that our country needs to be protected from. To think that our Marine Corps would not be able to respond to one major contingency. It is outrageous. It cries for bipartisan leadership on this issue, particularly leadership from our Commander in Chief. To put it in perspective, it is not just an issue of our national security. You would think that would be enough to bring people to the table. But we are talking about jobs across this country. The National Association of Manufacturers has estimated it would be nearly 1 million jobs; George Mason University, the same. To my colleagues, looking around here, polling some States in terms of the estimate of job losses: 24,000 for Alabama. When we look at a State like Missouri, 31,000, when we look at a State, for example, like Florida, 39,000 for Florida.…”