Sequestration Will Cost 12,000+ Hampton Roads Jobs

Four aircraft carriers, from back to front, the Abraham Lincoln (72), the Enterprise (65), the George H.W. Bush (77) and the Dwight D. Eisenhower (69), tied up at Norfolk Naval Station on Thursday, February 14, 2013. (Steve Earley | Virginian-Pilot file photo)

Certain parts of Hampton Roads strongly supported the Republican Party in the November, 2012 elections.  Now, thanks to the obstructionism and economic sabotage of the GOP controlled House of Representatives, it is estimated that some 12,000+ jobs will be lost in Hampton Roads.  If these GOP supporters are really true to their party's agenda and mantra, they should step forward and volunteer to be among the first to be laid off and furloughed.  Will they do so?  Of course not!  Like their Christofascist allies in the GOP, they are HYPOCRITES.  They only support budget cuts and lay offs if they harm others.  These people wrap themselves in religion, claim to care about children and then  seek to throw the less fortunate under the bus.  And yes, I am talking about the good people who live in areas like Alanton and Little Neck in Virginia Beach and Newport News' "gold coast."  12,000+ families in Hampton Roads will suffer the consequences of GOP extremism.  Here are highlights from a Virginian Pilot article:

Hampton Roads will lose more than 12,000 jobs this year if sequestration is not halted, Old Dominion University economic researchers said. Sequestration is scheduled to begin taking effect later today.

ODU’s Economic Forecasting Project recently projected that the region would add 5,195 jobs in 2013. With sequestration, Hampton Roads will, instead, lose 12,237 jobs, the economists said today.
The researchers also revised their estimate on the regional economic input, or gross regional product. Instead of going up 1.68 percent this year, they said it will decline 0.67 percent.

Sequestration, the economists said, will cost the region more than $2 billion in spending. Nearly $1.9 billion of that is defense-related, the Economic Forecasting Project said.

Already refit and refueling work on the carrier Abraham Lincoln (in the picture above) has been postponed and a carrier deployment has been postponed.  And that's just the beginning of the impact.  The ripple effect on local business will see a multiplier effect.  In another article, the Virginian Pilot notes that the hospital ship Comfort may end up being confined to its wharf:

The naval hospital ship Comfort arrived at its new home base at Norfolk Naval Station this morning on what is supposed to be a brief stopover on its way to a humanitarian mission in South and Central America.

But sequestration could change that. If the across-the-board budget cuts looming over federal spending kick in today, the Comfort’s operations are slated to be canceled, relegating the ship to inaction at the pier.

The 894-foot-long ship is a moving triage center with 12 operating rooms, dental and optometry suites, capability for a CT scanner and hundreds of hospital beds.

The ship is scheduled to head out in early April to carry out Operation Continuing Promise 2013, a four-month humanitarian mission to eight countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean: Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Peru.

Who cares about humanitarian efforts if one is a Republican or Christofascist!