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Joint Chiefs to testify on sequester
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs and all four service chiefs will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee next week on the dangers of sequester to the military as the across-the-board cuts are just weeks away from taking effect.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale will also appear before the committee at the hearing.
It’s a rare appearance in Congress for nearly the full roster of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to testify together: Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, Navy Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Marine Gen. James Amos, Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh and National Guard Gen. Frank Grass.
The across-the-board sequestration cuts would reduce the Pentagon’s 2013 budget by about $45 billion, which the Joint Chiefs have warned would lead to a “hollow force.”
“The readiness of our Armed Forces is at a tipping point,” the military leaders wrote.
The hearing comes as President Obama has called for a short-term solution to delay the cuts with a mix of revenues and spending cuts. Republicans are mostly opposed to including additional revenues in a plan to replace the sequester.
A group senior Obama advisers met Wednesday with executives from several top defense firms, including Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, BAE Systems, Aurora Flight Sciences and ITT Exelis.
In Congress, a group of seven House and Senate GOP defense hawks are joining together to unveil an alternative plan Wednesday to avert the first year of sequestration by cutting the federal workforce 10 percent over the next decade through attrition, according to a committee aide.
Similar proposals were also introduced in the last Congress by House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Calif.), but they failed to gain traction in either chamber.
