[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1683]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      WE MUST AVOID THE SEQUESTER

  (Mr. HORSFORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HORSFORD. Mr. Speaker, we now have only a matter of days to 
prevent serious damage to the U.S. economy by the so-called 
``sequester.''
  These mindless, across-the-board cuts will hurt the country and my 
home State of Nevada. There has been a lot of talk that these cuts 
won't be that bad, but let me tell you about just one school in my 
district that I visited last week, the Matt Kelly Elementary 
Empowerment School.
  In terms of funding, over 50 percent of its school allocation is 
title I funding. It is a high-achieving, five-star school, where 
teachers are doing the best that they can with the little money that 
they receive, but the sequester would hit them hard. They would have to 
cut back on full-day kindergarten, fire teachers' aides, eliminate 
reading and math intervention programs for struggling students, reduce 
meals to hungry kids, and defund their family community center.
  This is a model school that is working hard to improve our students' 
academic achievement. Now, as their reward, because some in this body 
can't come to agreement, Congress will take a sledgehammer to their 
budget.
  The sequester is not fair to the children and families in my 
district. It is not about trimming fat. It is about the children, and 
that's who we should focus on today in this House.

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