[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 30 (Monday, March 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H822]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SEQUESTER IN PERSPECTIVE

  (Mr. MESSER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MESSER. Mr. Speaker, $85 billion is a lot of money, yet it 
represents just 2 percent of the $3.6 trillion this Nation spends every 
year.
  I hold in my hand two pennies, two pennies to represent the 2 percent 
of budget reductions we are asking for in this $85 billion sequester. 
Does anybody in this country believe that our Federal Government is so 
efficient and so effective that we cannot afford to trim two pennies 
out of every dollar?
  Over the last 4 years, too many parents have had to come home and 
tell their children they're out of work, and too many young people have 
had to come home and tell their parents they can't find a job. We need 
leaders in this Nation that will go to work for the people who live 
here and trim the two cents off every dollar we need to restore a 
healthy economy and put folks back to work.

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