On the recordJuly 31, 2012
I'm just grateful to the gentleman from Texas for actually broaching this issue. Jobs are important, but it's not just jobs for the sake of creating a job. This is a job that is essential for the defense of this country. This is our constitutional responsibility, and we need to take that seriously. Sequestration is basically, as you said I think at the very beginning, it's not what was planned here; it just kind of happened. It was a failed policy that happened. Now is the time to actually become adults about this and recognize that sequestration will not only destroy jobs, but it will destroy the defense of this country; and our responsibility is to make sure we defend this country and give every capability that when we send somebody into harm's way they have the equipment that is necessary to make sure they come back successfully. We don't want a fair fight. We want America to have the best equipment, and that flat out won't happen if we go through this big cut number three that we call ``sequestration.'' I thank the gentleman for allowing me to say something about this important issue, and I thank you for bringing it to the attention of the American people, sir.
