[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1670]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AVERT THE SEQUESTER AND ACT NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Kildee) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, there are just 3 days before $85 billion in 
harmful across-the-board spending cuts take effect. And here we are 
again, with an all-too-familiar manufactured crisis poised to strike 
our economy with another self-inflicted wound. Month to month, crisis 
to crisis, this is no way to run the world's largest economy.
  Letting sequestration happen is not responsible government. The 
sequester was designed last year to scare Congress into responsibly 
reducing the deficit. It created a doomsday scenario: draconian 
damaging cuts--disliked by both parties--intended to force Democrats 
and Republicans to come up with a balanced alternative to reduce our 
deficit.
  Sequestration cuts are not targeted to eliminate waste or unnecessary 
programs. Rather, they slash programs across the board, regardless of 
their effectiveness. This threatens our economic progress, jeopardizes 
our military readiness, and reduces funding for national priorities 
like education and medical research.
  Mr. Speaker, sequestration would be devastating for Michigan and our 
Nation's economy. The sequester eliminates jobs at a time when Congress 
should be working to create them. Our country has been moving in the 
right direction: 35 straight months of private sector job growth; 6.1 
million private sector jobs created. There's no doubt we can do more to 
grow our economy and the middle class, and letting sequestration happen 
is a giant step backward for our economy.
  Economists across the political spectrum agree that letting 
sequestration happen will slow our economy. The nonpartisan 
Congressional Budget Office estimates that sequester would reduce our 
economic growth by a third this year alone.
  Sequestration cuts affect the most vulnerable people: middle class 
families, seniors, students, people with disabilities, the unemployed, 
and those who may become unemployed if these cuts go into place. We 
can't pretend that these cuts are just numbers in a budget.
  If sequester is allowed to happen, Michigan alone stands to lose 
31,000 jobs in just 6 months. There will be 750,000 jobs lost 
nationally by October. Michigan schools would lose $22 million in 
funding, eliminating 300 teachers and aides in the classroom. An 
additional $20 million would be cut for educational support for 
children with disabilities. Head Start would be eliminated for 2,300 
Michigan children. Almost 2,500 low-income students in my State would 
no longer receive aid to help them pay for college.
  These cuts are real, Mr. Speaker. Just last week I cosponsored 
legislation with my Democratic colleagues to avoid the sequester, but 
Republicans won't even bring the bill to the floor for a vote.
  The Democrats plan to avoid sequester through responsible spending 
cuts, increased revenues, and promoting economic growth. Our plan 
eliminates taxpayer-funded subsidies for big oil companies. In a time 
of record oil profits and $4-a-gallon gasoline, it baffles me that our 
country continues to subsidize companies like ExxonMobil and BP; yet 
Republicans are willing to pink-slip 750,000 American workers just to 
protect billions of dollars in handouts for these five big oil 
companies. It's time to end these subsidies.
  There's no question that we need to cut the deficit, but we need to 
do it in a balanced way that protects the middle class. The Budget 
Control Act passed before I came to Congress reduced the deficit by 
more than $2.5 trillion, mainly through spending cuts. There are 
certainly other areas that should be cut, but we should be strategic in 
cutting spending to reduce our deficit. Sequestration takes the exact 
opposite approach. It irrationally cuts programs that have proven to be 
effective and are worthwhile investments.
  Congress needs to act immediately in order to avert the sequester. 
Republican inaction threatens to leave these indiscriminate cuts in 
place, killing jobs, undermining public safety and first responders, 
and injecting more uncertainty into our markets, harming our economy.
  Our Nation cannot afford any more uncertainty, obstruction, and 
delay. Democrats are interested in real solutions, not sequesters.
  Mr. Speaker, now is the time to act.

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