Tate Zeigler (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

Washington ­– U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) today released the following statement on President Obama’s remarks on budget sequestration this afternoon:

 

“This past weekend, President Obama’s own Secretary of Defense said the budget cuts looming under sequestration will ‘weaken the United States’ and ‘make it much more difficult for us to respond to crises in the world.’ The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed that ‘we will become less safe’ if these cuts go through.

 

“While the President last year promised that sequestration ‘will not happen,’ he has declined to address this looming crisis for more than a year. We appreciate that the President now wants to come to the negotiating table and we will examine his proposal closely.

 

“Every time we have a crisis in this country, President Obama’s solution is to raise taxes. With the economy still struggling and job growth very weak, the last thing America needs is a tax increase.

 

“In the coming days, we will be introducing legislation – as we did last year – to avoid the first year of defense budget cuts by reducing the size of the federal workforce through attrition as recommended by the Simpson-Bowles Commission. This common-sense approach avoids a damaging self-inflicted wound to America’s security, and we hope the President will join us in this effort.”

 

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