By The White House

Aboard Air Force One
En Route Newport News, Virginia

11:39 A.M. EST

MR. CARNEY: Hello. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being aboard Air Force One with us today as we make our way to Newport News, Virginia. As you know, the President will be visiting Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, where he will discuss the impacts on the defense industry and the Virginia economy if congressional Republicans fail to compromise to avert the sequester.

As I think you know, in the information that we provided you it makes clear that HII, in this case, the company that runs Newport News Shipbuilding, engages with suppliers, small businesses across the country that would be adversely affected by sequester. The President feels very strongly that for the sake of the people of Virginia and people who would be affected across the country, Republicans in Congress need to do what the American public overwhelmingly wants them to do, which is agree to a balanced approach to further reducing deficit. And you’ll hear about that subject from the President in his remarks today.

Questions.

Q Military officials in Afghanistan are correcting an incorrect report that the Taliban attacks dropped last year. Does that undercut the President’s message that there are improvements happening in Afghanistan?

MR. CARNEY: The President has made clear repeatedly that as we draw down our forces and train up Afghan forces, we will turn over security lead to the Afghans progressively as we move towards the transition points that he has discussed and that NATO has committed to.

It has always been the case, and will remain the case, that this is hard work and it is not work that comes without occasional setbacks. I haven’t seen the report that you’ve mentioned, but ultimately, thanks to the sacrifice of American men and women in uniform, as well as our diplomats, Afghanistan is increasingly capable of taking care of its own security and ultimately will be responsible for its own security. The President is committed to winding down that war and will keep to the timetable that he’s announced with his NATO allies.

Q Jay, is the President resigned to the sequestration cuts going into effect on Friday?

MR. CARNEY: I think you heard him say the other day that he remains hopeful, even though he understands that the clock is ticking and thus far, Republican leaders have refused to budge on the basic principle that we need to address this, our deficit challenges, in a balanced way.

We have on board, as you know, Congressman Rigell, who has said that he would like to see the sequester averted and that closing loopholes is a fair way to, in part, go about doing that. I think you saw Senator Lindsey Graham yesterday, late yesterday, on CNN talk about how he believes the damage of the sequester would be severe, especially to our defense …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office