Washington D.C.House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member, Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09), released the following statement in response to the Pentagon’s plans to furlough civilian employees to pay for budget cuts under sequestration:

“The furloughs announced by the Department of Defense highlight another negative effect of sequestration. As this committee has said for almost two years, cutting government spending through sequestration will undermine our military readiness and hurt hard-working families. Today's announcement once again proves that our assessment was accurate and that Congress must act to remove sequestration.”