With only weeks before sequestration will become U.S reality, organizations across the country are speaking out against the automatic spending cuts.
More than 3,500 U.S. organizations — representing manufacturers, health professionals, academic researchers and social workers, among others — came together Monday to urge Congress to find a solution to the country’s financial ills and avoid sequestration.
Northrop Grumman chairman, CEO and president Wes Bush called for a “balanced, strategic approach” to the U.S.’s fiscal challenges during a Monday press conference.
“The indiscriminate budget cutting required by sequestration is not the answer,” he said. “We urge Congress and the administration to work together on a solution to avoid sequestration’s devastating impacts on the nation’s security, economy, all aspects of the federal government, as well as research and education that drives innovation in our country.”
The Office of Budget and Management expects that sequestration would necessitate a 13% cut to defense program spending and a 9% loss of nondefense program spending.
“The danger that sequestration poses to the economy and our national security cannot be overstated,” said Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “More than two million jobs are at stake from all sectors. Sequestration affects all Americans and we must pull together to set it aside.”
Sequestration budget cuts would result in the loss of 2.14 million jobs, 1.09 million of which would come from Department of Defense spending reductions, according to a study conducted by Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University.
That means manufacturers, researchers, federal workers and small business workers all could become part of the job loss figures, according to an AIA press release.
APLU President Peter McPherson characterized sequestration as a “reckless and blunt tool that would force deep spending reductions across critical investments in research and education.”
“If we’re not going to develop the next technology at our universities then other nations will,” he said.
“These short-sighted cuts would result in the loss of 200,000 research-related jobs over the next four years alone and cause the U.S. to fall far behind other nations in developing the future technology that can power economies for decades. Why would we cede such extraordinary opportunities to China and India when we have the opportunity to continue leading the world in innovation?”
