Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said that sequestration is “a drag on the department” and causing the Department of Defense to spend time on something that might not happen.
“We’re investing a great number of manhours, resources and intensive planning for sequestration, which we, of course, hope to avoid,” Little said, according to the American Forces Press Services.
He added that the effects go beyond the Beltway.
“When you have [forward deployed] service members who are asking about appropriations, that’s a signal to me that [it’s] weighing on their minds,” Little said. “When sequestration, … continuing resolutions and appropriations become a discussion point in Kabul, … Vicenza or on Okinawa, that is a sign [that] this debate in Washington is having a negative effect on troop morale.”
Little said the threat of sequestration already has impacted morale, time management, planning and even his ability to discuss other matters with media.
“It’s time to move beyond the ‘fiscal cliff’ and get a deal done,” he said.
