Heck to defense contractor: Sequestration 'going to hurt'
LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- Workers at the Tactical Tailor don't just make military equipment.
"What we do is bigger than us," said Casey Ingels of the Tactical Tailor, adding the shop's work also protects troops overseas. "And we owe them 100 percent."
The shop even supplied the gear worn by the Navy seals who raided Osama bin Laden's compound.
"They absolutely were wearing our pouches, our packs and our plate carriers," said Ingels.
But as the March 1 deadline for mandatory federal budget cuts inches closer, the shop workers worry their products' demand may plunge.
On Friday the workers had a rare chance to ask Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., if they might lose their jobs.
"It's an awesome responsibility," said Heck of the looming sequestration. "This is going to hurt."
Heck is convinced lawmakers will not cut a deal in time when they reconvene on Capitol Hill next week.
"It's just not going to happen," he said. “We're going to go over the cliff next week.”
The result will be major budget cuts to the military across Puget Sound, especially for Joint-Base Lewis McChord and the Naval shipyard in Bremerton, which could lose $90 million.
"To lose jobs because of the failure of Congress to plan is difficult," said Ingels.
Ingels, a veteran himself, knows the cuts will trickle down to him eventually.
But for he and others at the shop, it's a waiting game.
"That's all you can do," he said.
Ingels asked Heck to keep fighting, and Heck, in turn, made a promise to these men and women whom soldiers rely on.
"Not one minute -- one second -- will I stop," said Heck.
"What we do is bigger than us," said Casey Ingels of the Tactical Tailor, adding the shop's work also protects troops overseas. "And we owe them 100 percent."
The shop even supplied the gear worn by the Navy seals who raided Osama bin Laden's compound.
"They absolutely were wearing our pouches, our packs and our plate carriers," said Ingels.
But as the March 1 deadline for mandatory federal budget cuts inches closer, the shop workers worry their products' demand may plunge.
On Friday the workers had a rare chance to ask Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., if they might lose their jobs.
"It's an awesome responsibility," said Heck of the looming sequestration. "This is going to hurt."
Heck is convinced lawmakers will not cut a deal in time when they reconvene on Capitol Hill next week.
"It's just not going to happen," he said. “We're going to go over the cliff next week.”
The result will be major budget cuts to the military across Puget Sound, especially for Joint-Base Lewis McChord and the Naval shipyard in Bremerton, which could lose $90 million.
"To lose jobs because of the failure of Congress to plan is difficult," said Ingels.
Ingels, a veteran himself, knows the cuts will trickle down to him eventually.
But for he and others at the shop, it's a waiting game.
"That's all you can do," he said.
Ingels asked Heck to keep fighting, and Heck, in turn, made a promise to these men and women whom soldiers rely on.
"Not one minute -- one second -- will I stop," said Heck.
I have never heard KOMO or any of the main stream media say the sequestration originated from the White House. They have neglected their duty to vet this president.
AGENDA: Grinding America Down.
http://vimeo.com/52009124
Oh shoot.....a war profiteer might have to make cuts.
I guess that Casey might not be able to take that trip to Epcot Center this year.
It's time to reduce the size of the military industrial complex. It has been far too big for far too long. We are going broke because of it.
These are not "cuts" just very very small decreases in the amount of increases spending, pathetic.
Call me a 'Henney Penny', but I think we're sunk.
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/federal_reserve-qe3/money_printing-2012-2013.html
Sequestration is going to hurt a lot more than defense contractors.
This story doesn't have a happy ending. If we keep spending to keep businesses like this one in business the country goes broke. If we tighten the fiscal belt and reduce the spending this business will probably go under. The unfortunate thing is they built their business on the insane spending habits of our elected government officials that have been tossing money around like it was tissue paper (and it will end up being about worth that much) with no concern of where the next dollar was coming from. Now they have to tighten their spending habits and some really good businesses are going to suffer. I see no happy ending for this story. The only solace that might be out there is if we can get our drunken sailors in the White House to quit spending then our great-great-great grand children might not have to work just to pay off these idiots folly.
Obama wanted this he designed it he had congress pass it he signed it in to law. Obama can come up with the plan to fix it like cut all spending that we have to barrow. only spend what we take in. For those that say we will have more money when we are done in Afganastan, got new for you we barrowed 100% of that money for the last 10 years. There is no pile of money sitting some were. That war was financed by the first national bank of China! So we need to just cut our spending to only that which we take in taxes period.
@Exiled_Patriot Congress has the power of the purse. The president has to go along with their budget.
@StSimeon @Exiled_Patriot He signed it in to law Congress just needs to do what they are doing and do nothing. Go home and let the cuts happen. Hell we need to cut over night 2 trillion in spending.
@Exiled_Patriot I agree. We need to let the cuts happen.
We, as a nation, did this after The Civil War, WWI, WWII, The Korean Conflict (War), Vietnam, and now. It's cyclical history. Nothing new here.
Just remember this.
Its OBAMA's fault!
Our troops go without as Congress votes themselves raises. Revolting. There's a special place in Hell for our current leaders, and with each corrupt little decision, I hope their eternity gets more and more painful.
@Harley-H.S.C. Remember who came up with this plan and would not budge on it till it was passed the great one himself Obama. His plan his idea Hell I remember the mental midget in tennis shoe patty Murray say how we need this plan she voted for it. Maria can'tvotwell also voted for this plan it is their fault.
With all the shouting and finger pointing I have yet to see anyone propose a plan to balance the budget much less pay off the debt.
@My_Thoughts The debt will never be paid off ever! 16trillion dollars if we as a nation took all the money and paid back the debt at one dollar per second it would take the USA 502,208 years to pay it off. We as a nation are bankrupted! Just no one has told the Emperor has no clothes yet.
They should be cutting everything and zeroing it out. Then start over by looking at each program and see if it is worth the money. Fat just flows out of DC.
@Grumpa I would take it a step further. Zero everything out, then only allow the federal government to do what they are constitutionally allowed to do and turn the rest over to the individual states.Â
Let sequestration happen. Its the only way we're going to get the much needed cuts in military spending. Would have been nice if congress could have done it using some common sense but thats just not going to happen. We need to cut the military by 50% over a 5 year period to get it back within constitutional limits.
@Blindman Just FYI SS Medicare make up 41%% of the US Budget the DOD is 20 %%Federal employee and Veteran retirement and bennifits is 7%%%% 13%%%% goes to safety net programs, 3%%to transortation and infastructure, 2%% goes to education, science and medical research 2%% 1%% to non security international aka foreign aid. and 4%% for all other spending. So i just broke down the budget for you in simple terms the military is dwarfed by the entitlement spending which is 100%%unconstitutional.So by your logic we need to get back to constitutional levels in the budget.
@Exiled_Patriot SS is self funded so lumping it in with the other expenditures is a bit disingenuous. DOD and Medicaid/Medicare (we even have special taxes to fund those) is about Par as it pertains to percentage of the budget (excluding war dollars) We spend far more than is necessary on the military and it's time to get reasonable with it.
@StSimeon @Exiled_Patriot you are living in a dream world. It's only self funding on paper. Congress has been using the excess SSI funds to pay for their increased creep into areas they have no business in, such as education.Â
@Exiled_Patriot We all pay SSI taxes to fund SS. Federal Income taxes do not pay SS benefits. However Federal Income taxes do pay DOD expenditures. See the difference?
@StSimeon No it is not. it is part of the federal budget the FBO or federal budget office even says that SS and medicare are 41 percent of the budget lumped togeather.
KOMO put them extra % signs in not me
@Blindman What is the constitutional limits and were are they specifically in the constitution?
@Blindman Not sure you understand exactly how the budget work but the DOD is approx 11% of the total budget but is going to get stuck with approx 43% of the cuts.  Some of the things they are cutting are actually needed.  In my opinion your logic is a complete failure.