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TAMPA, Fla. -- South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) called on government contractors to put employees on layoff notice before November's election as a way to pressure Congress to address the so-called "fiscal cliff."
Graham, joined by Republican Sens. John McCain (AZ) and Kelly Ayotte (NH), were in Florida for their first stop on a two-day, four-state tour by these three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee designed to bring attention to the $500 billion in automatic cuts scheduled to begin in January if Congress does not find other ways to cut spending.
“Politicians, you know, quite frankly respond to pressure,” Graham said about the cuts set to begin in 2013 under the so-called sequestration budget.
“I’m urging every defense industry that could be affected by sequestration to put your employees on notice before November,” he continued. “The more it becomes real to us as to what comes the nation’s way, the more likely we are to solve the problem.”
Graham delivered the remarks inside a University of South Florida auditorium here in Tampa this morning to an audience of military veterans, academics, and defense contractors.
Some in the audience were linked to nearby MacDill Air Force base, a sprawling installation housing the U.S. Central Command, the organization that oversees America’s military activity in the Middle East, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
“There is gridlock in Washington,” McCain said as he warmed the crowd shortly after taking the podium. “I don’t need to tell you that. It’s hard these days, trying to do the Lord’s work in the city of Satan.”
The line won laughs, but much of the humor today was strictly of the gallows variety.
Before the event began, audience members mingled and expressed satisfaction that South Florida’s defense industry was being recognized.
“I think they’re playing politics with peoples’ lives,” Donna S. Huneycutt, the executive vice president of a small government consulting firm, said of Congress in an interview.
Huneycutt said she has a staff of 62 people, and nearly had to lay people off last year as a result of earlier budget cuts.
“I’d like to see both sides come to the table and compromise,” she said.
McCain, Graham, and Ayotte called for a bipartisan solution to the crisis.
They signaled they would break with other Republicans and would accept closing loopholes in the tax code in return for concessions from Democrats, including cuts to entitlement programs.
“We shouldn’t put our troops in this position,” Ayotte said. “We shouldn’t put our military feeling like they have the sword of Damocles hanging over their head.”
Ayotte, the wife of a retired Air National Guard pilot who flew combat missions over Iraq, is a buzzed-about prospect for the number-two slot on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s ticket and is rumored to be on his short list.
The town hall tour was scheduled to make stops later today in Fayetteville, NC and Norfolk, VA – also home to key military communities.
The tour will wrap Tuesday morning in Merrimack, NH at a facility for the defense contractor BAE Systems.
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Fear Mongers! Why do they tell people they are going to lose their jobs just because the GOP does not want to lose this election. That has been their strategy. Let all middle class workers suffer.They Lay people off and then they'll complain about paying them unemployment. Graham isn't saying lets cut they salaries of the CEO's of the government contractors. He wants for them to continue making their millions. Throw their entire GOP out for what they've done to our country.
But one of their mantras is that govt does not create jobs...yet another contradiction.
Hey, RedSoxrule: Politics aside, the only thing your team rules is last place. It is fitting that you are a flunky for Romney, since he is as likely to win the election as the Red Sox to make the playoffs.
Typical Republican...can not win on the real issues, so just make one up to bully and subsequently BUY the election. The mid-class republican has yet to learn from the past. In 2010 the Republican candidates campaigned on JOBS JOBS JOBS.
Not once have they brought a bill to the floor of congress to address job creation....They lied then and they continue to lie to their own party faithful.
Now you have this self indulgent idiot wanting big business government contractors who support the party to lay-off people instead of hiring. WAKE UP REPUBLICAN MIDDLE CLASS. Your leaderless leaders don't care one penny about you or the rest of this nation.
This just proves the tea holes and republican'ts will doing anything they can to win this election. Pathetic that a sitting member of Congress could be such an idiot. He should be ashamed, but they have no shame or morals for that matter.
Why do people who make less than a million dollars a year adhere to the GOP agenda? Us liberals aren't going to take away your guns, or your religion, and where do you think taxes go to? Our infrastructure is falling apart, we need to rebuild...the GOP is slinging a lot of BS hash.
Did I just hear a plea of the GOP to layoff American workers? Does Romney have some jobs overseas he needs filled?
Government doesn't create jobs, so I don't see what the problem is.
If they were creating jobs there would not be an issue, these crack pots are firing men and women just to make a point!
So, pink-slip the industries before November and who is blamed? These quacks want to throw American workers under the bus to gain access to the Oval office! Not a new tactic yet, this is a very new approach, lay-off workers or fire them, they loose their benefits, pensions, retirement savings, and maybe their homes and life, that is quite a sacrifice to ask. After November, then what? These GOP career politicians are more dangerous than terrorists. With a terrorist we know they are out to do us harm.
i agree with ole Linsey, sens the pink slips, don't forget to also send the pink slips to the millions of americans who are also going to see their health care, their teachers and police and fire foghters all go away their roads crumble worse than they are now the national parks close air traffic control shut down, the list of damage to be done is endless yet they only talk about the defense contractors. they could have had a 10 to 1 swap on cuts and averted all of this but refused to protect the middle class and poor and only want to protect the rich the rich. drive the damn bus off the cliff so they can see how the rest of us have to live first hand.there are lots of places to cut spending and lots of waste fraud and abuse in the DOD system,believe me i saw it for 20 plus years and thats where the cutting should start.I'm sure the same is true of safety net programs and they should be fixed too. a billion here and a billion there and soon we're talking real money.to people like the republican party compermise is a dirty word, so drive tha bus over the cliff and lets all share for a change.