[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 1683-1684]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE SEQUESTER LOOMS

  (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ENGEL. The sequester looms. Programs are going to be cut, and 
people are going to suffer--and what has this House done today under 
the Republican leadership? We've passed three bills. We've brought up 
three bills, one of which is a motion to adjourn, and the other one is 
a vote on the Journal. What a shame and what a disgrace.
  I didn't vote for the sequester law. I thought it was not a good 
idea--but we have it. The only way we're going to get away from it is 
if we have a combination of cutting spending and raising revenues.
  The President has been fair. He wants to sit down with Republicans 
and have a balanced bill and close the tax loopholes for Big Oil and 
other people who have these loopholes but who don't need them. Let the 
people who can afford to pay more pay a little more. It has got to be a 
combination.
  The American people want us to reach out and meet in the middle. 
Unfortunately, the Republicans have refused to budge. This is not good 
for the

[[Page 1684]]

American people. This is not something that we should be doing. Close 
the tax loopholes on Big Oil. The American people want to see a 
compromise.
  I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 699, a balanced bill to 
replace the sequester with spending cuts and revenues.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. As the Chair previously advised, that 
request cannot be entertained absent appropriate clearance.

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