[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14509]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     SEQUESTRATION TRANSPARENCY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, during the month of August, I had held 
several town hall meetings throughout my district in Oregon. In these 
meetings, I've done a summary of the work that we're doing here in 
Congress and then opened the floor for questions from and discussions 
with my constituents.
  Without fail, in every town hall meeting at least one person would 
ask about the partisan rancor and the gridlock that's come to 
characterize Washington. They would ask me: Can you tell us something 
that's bipartisan that you've done, something where you've worked 
together, some achievement that everyone's agreed on.
  Now, in responding to them, I've often discussed a piece of 
legislation that's very important to the debate on budget priorities 
and the so-called ``fiscal cliff''; that's the Sequestration 
Transparency Act. This bill passed the Budget Committee by voice vote 
and was later approved in the House, with only two in opposition. After 
the Senate passed it with unanimous consent, the President signed it 
into law. So this was truly a bipartisan effort, a statement by almost 
every one of us working together that we're concerned about the impact 
that sequestration might have on our constituents, and an effort to get 
more information about the true harm that that sequestration will 
cause.
  Now, following the administration's recent report detailing those 
cuts that would come under sequestration, I am even more concerned than 
before, and my constituents are concerned. And I know constituents all 
across this country are concerned as well. Mr. Speaker, there is 
bipartisan concern about the impact that sequestration might have, and 
yet we haven't been able to come to a bipartisan consensus to avoid it.
  We've identified a problem; now we must identify a solution. This 
should be a balanced solution, working together, and I look forward to 
working with all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to arrive 
at that solution. It's a solution for my district in Oregon, for all of 
the great State, and, importantly, for all of this great Nation.

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