[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1627]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             SEQUESTRATION

  (Mr. NADLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, when the Republicans refer to President 
Obama's sequestration, they must think that no one in the country 
remembers the events of the last 2 years. Remember that 2 years ago, 
the Republicans blackmailed the entire country by saying that they 
would not permit the debt ceiling to be increased and they would force 
the country to default on its debts--and in fact destroy the economy--
unless we cut the budget by $2.4 trillion. We cut it by $1.2 trillion. 
But no one could figure out, no one could agree how to cut another $1.2 
trillion, so both parties put in the sequester to kick the can down the 
road on this entirely artificial demand for an extra $1.2 trillion in 
cuts. That's why we're here now facing an economic catastrophe--because 
of the blackmail of an even worse catastrophe of failing to pay our 
bills, of calling into question the full faith and credit of the United 
States. That's what got us to this point. The only way to get us out is 
either to just repeal the entire sequester entirely--because we've made 
enough budget cuts--or to say, all right, we'll do half the budget, 
half the $1.2 trillion in cuts, and half by adopting loophole-closing 
measures that the Republicans themselves supported last year.

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