[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 16 (Monday, February 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H317-H318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REPLACING PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SEQUESTER

  (Mr. BOEHNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, President Obama missed a great opportunity 
today to help our economy. This was supposed to be the day that the 
President submitted his budget to the Congress, but it's not coming. 
It's going to be late. Some reports say that it could be as long as a 
month late. I think that's too bad. Our economy could use some 
Presidential leadership right now.
  On Thursday, the President disbanded his jobs council after a grand 
total of four meetings in two years. Then, as Americans got to work on 
Friday, they learned that our economy still isn't creating enough jobs. 
The unemployment rate actually went up.
  Now, if government spending does cause growth, as the President 
believes, we shouldn't be having these problems. And then maybe it 
wouldn't be so disappointing that his budget is late.

[[Page H318]]

  Well, we are having trouble, in large part because spending is the 
problem. It's what's chasing jobs overseas and causing much anxiety 
about our future.
  One example of something the President's budget could have addressed 
is his sequester. A sequester is Washington-speak for automatic 
spending cuts. The President first proposed the sequester in 2011 and 
insisted that it be part of the debt limit agreement.
  Now, twice the House has passed legislation to replace the 
President's sequester with commonsense reforms that would reduce 
spending and preserve and strengthen our safety net for future 
generations. We've spelled it all out. We've done our work because 
we're committed to getting spending under control, and we've long said 
there's a better way to cut spending.
  Unfortunately, our Democratic colleagues in the Senate haven't taken 
action. They haven't acted on our plan to replace the President's 
sequester or haven't offered one of their own.
  What we should do is replace the President's sequester with 
responsible reforms that will help balance the budget in 10 years. Our 
goal is to grow the economy, expand opportunity and prosperity, and 
ensure America maintains its leading role in the world with a strong 
national defense.
  To do that we need to budget responsibly. We need a budget that 
reflects those priorities. But to replace the President's sequester, we 
need our Democratic colleagues to get serious about spending.
  I wish I could give the American people more cause for optimism, but 
we see the President's budget is late and the Senate hasn't passed a 
budget in nearly four years.
  This week the House will act on a measure introduced by the gentleman 
from Georgia (Mr. Price) that requires the President to submit a 
balanced budget, because we know--and I think the American people 
agree--spending is the problem. And the sooner we solve our spending 
problem, the sooner we'll solve our jobs problem too.

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