[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 30, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E908]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      H.R. 5652: SEQUESTER REPLACEMENT RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2012

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                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 30, 2012

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 
5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act. The proposed cuts 
in this bill directly attack low and moderate-income Americans while 
protecting an excessive defense budget.
  More than 40 percent of the cuts in this legislation come from 
programs that support low-income families. The bill abandons millions 
of Americans who rely on food assistance programs by making drastic 
cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Free 
School Lunch and Breakfast program, and Meals on Wheels. The bill 
slashes funding for the Social Services Block Grant Program, which 
provides more than 20 million children and seniors services ranging 
from protection from abuse to transitional housing. Simply put, H.R. 
5652 disproportionately cuts assistance targeted to low- and moderate-
income families and will only deepen the poverty that they experience 
and leave more of them hungry.
  H.R. 5652 cuts the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and 
restricts any unused funds for deficit reduction. Though initially 
flawed, my efforts and those of my colleagues to improve HAMP have 
helped to make it is an essential response to the foreclosure crisis. 
Rather than completely eliminate it, as H.R. 5652 would do, the program 
should continue to be revamped to better serve the needs of the 
American people.
  This legislation includes provisions to require that all current and 
future federal workers pay an additional 5 percentage points of their 
salary toward their federal pensions. This cut in benefits would result 
in an annuity that is worth approximately 40% less than is the case 
under existing laws. Federal workers have already endured pay freezes 
and large programmatic budget cuts. Congress should not be playing 
politics with the pensions of the thousands of hard-working federal 
employees that are dedicating their lives to public service.
  In addition, H.R. 5652 weakens Americans' protections in the event of 
another financial crisis like the one that started our current 
recession. The bill prevents the FDIC from intervening to slow the 
chain reaction of investment bank failures that happens when one of the 
firms begins to fail, bringing the others with it because they are so 
closely tied together. The bill also eliminates the ability of the 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to fine law-breaking 
financial entities under its jurisdiction.
  The premise behind this legislation is that we should go back on the 
agreement that was reached and codified in the Budget Control Act by 
preserving a massively bloated Defense Department with funding from 
Americans of greatest need. I strongly oppose this bill.

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