[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 23, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2858-S2859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SEQUESTRATION

  Mr. TOOMEY. Mr. President, I thank the majority leader.
  I feel the need to respond to the comments from the leader about the 
sequester that has gone into effect. I wish to be very clear. The 
flight delays that are occurring, the furloughs among air traffic 
controllers, and the shutting down of air traffic towers are entirely, 
utterly unnecessary. This is a willful choice being made by this 
administration in order to inflict as disruptive a process as possible 
on the American public and on our economy, all to further a political 
agenda. The political agenda is to attempt to convince the American 
people there are no circumstances under which we can ever cut spending 
at all.
  If you question why I say this is a willful decision on the part of 
this administration, I would refer you to legislation Senator Inhofe 
and I offered prior to the beginning of the sequestration. This 
legislation, as you may recall, would have granted to the 
administration complete flexibility in how they achieved the savings of 
the sequester.
  What we hear from the administration, administration officials, and 
White House spokespeople is that this is terribly unfortunate, but they 
have no choice and no alternative; the law requires that they make 
these cuts. However, when Senator Inhofe and I introduced legislation 
to explicitly grant them all the flexibility they could ask for, 
complete flexibility to find the most wasteful, most redundant, most 
unnecessary programs, and to cut there instead of cutting essential 
services, what did the administration say? They said: If you send us 
the legislation, we will veto it. They put

[[Page S2859]]

out a Statement of Administration Policy insisting that this was a 
terrible idea, to give them the flexibility to avoid exactly what they 
are doing.
  I don't know how one can come to any conclusion other than that this 
administration wishes to impose this inconvenience, this disruption, 
and this cost on the American people and our economy. They have it 
within their ability to accept the device we were offering, which would 
have allowed them to avoid this entirely.
  I am extremely disappointed the administration would choose to 
inflict this kind of harm to our economy, this kind of inconvenience to 
our travelers, all for the purpose of furthering a political agenda. 
This is no way to run this government.
  What I would suggest we do is we revisit the legislation Senator 
Inhofe and I offered which would have avoided all of this, allowed us 
to cut some of the waste, excess, duplication, and avoid all of this 
inconvenience. This is entirely unnecessary, and it is unacceptable.
  One of the proper functions of any executive, including the President 
of the United States, is to look throughout the spending over which he 
or she has control to find the lowest priority, to find the least 
necessary and least disruptive way to achieve the savings we need. We 
are running unacceptably large deficits. We have a huge debt that is 
already costing this economy the kind of growth we ought to have.
  The very modest savings of the sequester could be achieved in a way 
that wouldn't be disruptive at all. The size of the Federal budget has 
more than doubled in the last 12 years. To suggest that it is not 
possible to find 2.5 percent savings is simply ridiculous. It is not 
true.
  I urge my colleagues, let's fix this. We know how to do it. We have 
the tools available. Senator Inhofe and I offered. There are other 
ways, and I would be open to any number of them. We need to achieve the 
savings of the sequester, and we need to do it in a way that is not 
disruptive and that can be done.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Las Vegas is the destination resort of the world. I may get 
a little static from New York about that, but it is a place a lot of 
people wish to visit. We understand the importance of doing something 
about the lines at airports as the result of sequestration. But as I 
indicated in my remarks, I am also concerned about the little boys and 
girls who are knocked off Head Start--70,000 of them. I am also 
concerned about medical research. As I stated yesterday, Duke 
University is laying off 50 people. Duke does some of the most 
important medical research there is, dealing with dread disease. I am 
concerned about homeless veterans. The program will eliminate homeless 
veterans having a home. This is what sequestration does to them.
  The reason sequester is taking effect is because Congress enacted it 
into law the Budget Control Act of 2011. The vast majority of 
Republicans voted for this. The Senate considered an alternative that 
would have altered sequester, and it would have done it with a balanced 
package. Republicans blocked it earlier this year.
  We need to lessen the impact of sequestration. It is not as if we are 
blind to doing something about deficit reduction. We have already 
reduced the debt by about $2.6 trillion.
  My friend from Pennsylvania has a reputation for being very concerned 
about dealing with money, and I admire him for his tenaciousness in 
that regard.
  What I have suggested here certainly seems reasonable. For 5 months, 
we do a timeout on the sequestration. During the 5 months, 
sequestration would be paid for with part of the $650 billion that was 
in a pot that is a result of the money building up due to reducing the 
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During these 5 months, let's find a 
better way to go forward with our efforts to reduce the debt. I think 
this is reasonable, it would be fair, and it would give us time to do 
something.
  Certainly with the debt ceiling coming up and other major issues we 
need to deal with, I think we should lessen not only the impact of the 
problems we have at airports around America, but also we should focus 
on little boys and girls and elderly men and women who are losing Meals 
On Wheels, their only hot meal of the day.
  I think we should do that--look at this sequestration and take a 
timeout.
  I recognize my friend from North Dakota, who is going to give her 
maiden speech. We are looking forward to hearing what she has to say.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota.

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