U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey (Photo: Glenn Fawcett/DOD)The faces of sequestration are coming to Capitol Hill.
Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all four service chiefs will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee next Tuesday on the dangers of sequestration.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale will also testify during the hearing, scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Full list of speakers:
- Honorable Ashton B. Carter Deputy Secretary of Defense
- Honorable Robert F. Hale Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)
- General Martin E. Dempsey, USA Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
- General Raymond T. Odierno, USA Chief of Staff of the Army
- Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, USN Chief of Naval Operations
- General James F. Amos, USMC Commandant of the Marine Corps
- General Mark A. Welsh III, USAF Chief of Staff of the Air Force
- General Frank J. Grass, NGB Chief, National Guard Bureau
On Tuesday, President Obama – fearing Congress wouldn’t reach a budget deficit resolution by March 1, the day sequestration is scheduled to take place – asked Congress to come up with a short term fix that would avoid sequestration until January 1, 2014.
If Congress is able to find deficit reductions up to $85 billion, that would put off sequestration until the start of the next federal fiscal year.
If sequestration takes place, it would reduce the Pentagon’s budget by seven percent and federal domestic programs by five percent. It would also result in the furloughs of defense civilian employees and economists have warned the cuts could send the country into another recession.
