one of those is johnstown, pennsylvania. the manufacturers that used to make steel here found new life making things for the u.s. military. but here at j.w.f. industries, defense orders are already starting to decline. they estimate the seqeuster could lead to a 60% profit cut and layoffs of more than 100 workers. >> we're in small town america. and it's not like we're in the beltway where if you lose this job, you can go to another job. there's another opportunity, you don't have that here. so anyone in the defense industry that's in small town america, is going to have a huge impact. >> reporter: so while all these cuts are one way to help washington get its fiscal house in order. c.e.o. bill polacek says it would take a massive preventable and personal toll here in johnstown. >> everything i've worked for, everything everybody worked for, in 25 years of business that we're celebrating this year, could all be for naught, only because the people in congress, and the senate, can't vote to do what's in the best interest of th

at the age of seven, my dad came to johnstown, pennsylvania from the mountains of northern italy on amed providence. how providential that one day his son would announce for president just down the road from the deep mines where his father, my grandfather, mined coal until he was 72 years old. [applause] when my grandfather died, i remembered as a kid kneeling at his casket and not being able to take my eyes off his thick, strong hands, hands that dug his path in life and gave his family a chance at living the american dream. working the minds may not have been the dream he ever dreamed. i never dared to ask him. but i think his answer would have been that america gave him more than he had ever hoped. america believed in him. that's why he believed in america. [applause] my grandfather, like millions of other immigrants, did not come here for some government guarantee of income inequality or government benefits to take care of his family. in 1923, there were no government benefits for immigrants except one -- freedom. [applause] under president obama, the dream of freedom and opportun