Why America Got The Sequester It Deserves

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http://breakingdefense.com/2013/11/why-america-got-the-sequester-it-deserves/



Why America Got The Sequester It Deserves
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
on November 22, 2013 at 4:47 PM

Generals, admirals, members of Congress, captains of industry, and two Defense Secretaries in a row have been pounding the drums for nearly two years on the dangers of sequestration. So far, it appears hardly anyone is listening outside the Beltway — or even on Capitol Hill.

What is appalling is “the lack of engagement by Congress,” retired Republican Senator Kit Bond said at last weekend’s Reagan National Defense Forum in California. “I understand just a week or so ago the House Armed Services Committee had a briefing for members of the House on the impacts of sequester and only 28 of them showed up,” he growled. “That is a really troubling statistic.”

Actually, the stats are worse than that. That 28 includes nine members of the HASC itself, who presumably are already painfully aware of the effects of the ongoing 10-year, $500 billion cut to Pentagon spending. So only19 non-HASC legislators showed up. Not one member of the House leadership showed up. Given what difficult cats legislators are to herd, getting 19 together isn’t bad, but it’s a long way from a 218-vote majority. What’s more, as the crowning touch, the briefing was cut short halfway through so the members could go vote on issues unrelated to defense.

So how successful have pro-defense legislators been at getting the message out to the public and their colleagues? “Well, I don’t know,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, with what seemed like a slight sigh, when I cornered the HASC Vice-Chairman after a talk he gave in Washington on Monday. “Yeah,” he said, the briefing wasn’t well attended, “but we’ve had several, and so it’s accumulated over time.” (We know about one earlier group briefing, which was even smaller than last week’s, so at least they’re headed in the right direction). “So, we’ve got to keep after it, explaining what the consequences of sequestration are.”