Congressman Mike Rogers (R., Mich) said the Pentagon needs flexibility on the implementation of sequester cuts Sunday on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
Rogers argued the Pentagon could find alternative ways to achieve the desired cost reductions without the blunt, broad-based cuts currently in the sequester:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But one thing that is certain to happen, Congressman Rogers, right now, at least, within a month, you'll have these furloughs on the civilian employees in the Defense Department - that's a twenty percent pay cut.
MIKE ROGERS: If we have flexibility, there's a big difference between a sailor on the Eisenhower out in the Mediterranean and the travel coordinator at the EPA. You can't treat them the same and the way this is structured it treats everyone the same. You can't do that. If you give them this flexibility, they can make the determination "yes, that second carrier group ought to steam to the Mediterranean," that's a national defense issue I argue. We have intelligence operations that could get slowed down or stopped. That's a problem. But if you sit down and talk to these folks, if say "you had the flexibility can you find two cents on the dollar on the deficiencies other than cutting the bone?" they'll tell you "yes we can."