[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 31 (Tuesday, March 5, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SEQUESTER AND FEDERAL SPENDING

  (Mr. BENTIVOLIO asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BENTIVOLIO. Mr. Speaker, before I came to Washington, I was a 
high school teacher. To be a good teacher, I had to make things 
understandable for my students in the classroom. With the budget, I 
knew that there had to be an easier way to explain the numbers I was 
looking at to the people who sent me to Washington. Thomas Jefferson 
once wrote that an informed public was vital to our continuing 
democracy. I would like to share with you how the sequester affects 
Federal spending.
  Spending is expected to be around $3.8 trillion; that's the number 38 
followed by 11 zeros. The sequester is $85 billion; that's the number 
85 followed by nine zeros. That's a lot of money.
  The best way to understand these numbers is to take eight zeros off 
of both of them. The President is complaining that we are taking an 
equivalent of $850 from a budget of $38,000. This is all pretty 
hypocritical after he forced hardworking Americans who actually have to 
live on $38,000 a year to pay another $760 or so in increased taxes as 
part of his fiscal cliff deal.
  The people in my district want us to get serious about the enormous 
spending that's happening here in Congress. We should be able to have a 
reduction in the increase of spending without acting as it if will 
cause the end of the world.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Harris). The gentleman is reminded to 
avoid inappropriate references to the President.

                          ____________________