Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said it would be a “shameful, irresponsible” act for Congress to allow sequestration to take effect on March 1, triggering more than $1 billion in cuts to the federal budget over the next decade, half of which coming from national security.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Panetta urged Congress to find a way to avoid the cuts, saying it would impact the military’s preparedness and could hollow out the force.
“If sequester goes into effect, and we have to do the kind of cuts that go right at readiness, right at maintenance, right at training, we are going to weaken the United States and make it more difficult to respond to crises,” Panetta said.
Panetta said DOD has begun making preparations for sequestration, because members of Congress have said they will let the cuts happen. Panetta has been critical of sequestration from the beginning, saying the threat of it alone has cost the DOD resources it could be using for the war effort.
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(Source: NBC News)
