No Need To Send Sequestration Layoff Notices, Sez Labor Dept.; McKeon Outraged
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WASHINGTON [updated 6:45 pm with Rep. Smith and AIA comment]: The Labor Department issued guidance today stating that defense companies and other federal contractors do not need to issue layoff notices sixty days in advance of sequestration. House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon immediately denounced the guidance as “politically motivated,” and his staff called it… Keep reading →
CEOs in Crossfire At Sequestration Hearing
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CAPITOL HILL: Lockheed Martin CEO Bob Stevens and his fellow defense industry executives struggled to stay on their “sequestration kills jobs” message while they dodged repeated questions from Democrats about whether revenue increases were needed to avert the sequester. An exasperated Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, concluded the… Keep reading →
Senators Suggest Sequester Compromise To Save Two Million Jobs
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WASHINGTON [updated 4:30 pm]: At an Aerospace Industries Association event to roll out a new report estimating that sequestration would cost the country more than two million jobs in 2013 — one million from Defense cuts, as previously reported, plus another million from cuts to non-defense agencies — Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Sen.… Keep reading →
GOP Must Move On Revenues Or Sequester Happens: Sen. Murray
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WASHINGTON: If Republicans don’t agree to a “balanced” deal that raises revenues, Democrats are willing to let sequestration strike on Jan. 2nd — and the Bush tax cuts expire on Dec. 31st — Sen. Patty Murray said this afternoon in a major escalation of Congress’s ongoing game of chicken. “If we can’t get … a… Keep reading →
Next Week, A Storm of Sound & Fury On Sequestration
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WASHINGTON: As jetlagged aerospace executives and defense reporters head home from a frankly discouraging Farnborough Air Show, Washington is gearing up for storm of stop-sequestration events this coming week. What it will actually accomplish is an open question. Sequestration has hardly been a quiet topic this past week, with a pointed, partisan, and unproductive exchange… Keep reading →
HASC Chair McKeon Sends Angry Letter To Sen. Reid: Get Moving To Stop Sequestration
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McKeon just posted letter to Harry Reid demanding Senate stop #sequestration: http://1.usa.gov/LFOzHW. More from McKeon: http://aol.it/MbAL8K SydneyFreedberg
HASC Chair McKeon To Senate: Stop Talking & Pass Bill To Fix Sequester
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WASHINGTON: House Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon seethed with frustration at Senate Democrats today when asked about Senate Armed Services chairman Carl Levin‘s proposals for a “grand compromise” to avert sequestration. McKeon doubted any kind of grand bargain could happen this year, before or after the election, and said that the best plausible scenario… Keep reading →
HASC Orders DoD To Fly Block 30 Global Hawks; Sticks $260M In Bill
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WASHINGTON: The House Armed Services Committee is giving the US Air Force both marching orders and money to operate its eighteen “Block 30” Global Hawk UAVs instead of warehousing them as the service proposed. The Administration’s fiscal 2013 budget request cancelled the Block 30 program and provided no funds to operate the 18 drones already… Keep reading →
Congress Fights Back Against Costly Delay To Virginia Submarine Program
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The cost of building Virginia-class attack submarines could grow by up to $600 million if Congress signs off on the Navy’s proposal to slip a Virginia from 2014 to 2018. Under heavy pressure to cut budgets, the Navy wants to reduce sub-building expenses in the short term, even at the price of increasing the program’s… Keep reading →
HASC Chairman McKeon Slams Obama Defense Cuts, Sequestration
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Buck McKeon wants his $450 billion back. The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee doesn’t just want to avoid sequestration, which would automatically cut $500 billion from Defense spending over the next decade if Congress can’t get its fiscal act together. McKeon (R-Calif.) wants to roll back the $450 billion in cuts that the… Keep reading →