I am proud that Ohio is home to over 8,000 active duty military personnel, over 43,000 members of the Reserves and National Guard, and almost 900,000 veterans.

One of my most important responsibilities is to ensure that our Armed Forces have the resources they need in order to protect our national security, both at home and abroad. That is why I have consistently supported policies that provide our military with the right tools during active duty and the benefits they deserve as veterans for their commitment and service to our great nation.

In an increasingly dangerous world, it is critical that we do not let a difficult fiscal environment threaten our ability to keep the American people safe. The President’s sequester threatens our national security as it drastically reduces defense spending while ignoring the primary drivers of our debt. While I support reducing unnecessary and wasteful spending, even within the defense budget, I believe there are more targeted and effective ways of doing so than arbitrary across the board cuts. This is why in both May and December of 2012, I voted in support of legislation that would have provided specific, planned spending reductions in order to replace the across the board sequester cuts for one year. As we evaluate proposals to reduce our debt, we must ensure that we do not cut core defense needs or fail to properly compensate those who sacrifice so much so that we may live in peace.