Washington, D.C. - Congressman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement regarding President Obama’s State of the Union address:
“I appreciate that President Obama will use part of this year’s State of the Union to pay tribute to brave American patriots like Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha. However, I wish that the President would honor their courage by showing courage himself and working with the Congress to mitigate the damage that will be done to our military under sequestration cuts.
“If news reports are correct, the President's speech will do a lot of blame fixing, but very little problem solving. I do not expect the President to mention in his speech how it was he and his administration who originally developed the idea of sequestration. Nor do I expect the President to mention how he idled for almost two years while Congress, the Military Services and the American people pleaded with him to undo sequestration before it was too late or at least allow them to plan for its effects. And I certainly do not expect the President to mention how his most recent formula for a deficit reduction plan exacerbates the damage done to the military while doing nothing to address entitlements, the main cause of the deficit.
Feb 12, 2013
Press Release