[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2330]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     SEQUESTRATION ISN'T A SOLUTION

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I visited Core Composites, a 
company located in Bristol in my home State of Rhode Island. Because of 
sequestration, this small business has been notified that funding for a 
government contract will be reduced by hundreds of thousands of 
dollars.
  I also recently met with Alexion, a pharmaceutical manufacturer in 
Rhode Island, whose FDA approval of a lifesaving drug will likely be 
delayed because of sequestration. Countless other small businesses 
across our country are facing these same challenges today because 
Washington failed to take action to avoid sequestration.
  Sequestration isn't a solution to our Federal deficit; it's a penalty 
that goes into effect because Republicans and Democrats failed to work 
together to responsibly reduce the deficit. And it's a penalty that 
will place a heavy toll on hardworking men and women across our 
country.
  We spend a lot of time fighting in Washington. Now it's time for us 
to work together to reach a commonsense solution on this issue. 
Congressman Chris Van Hollen has offered a very detailed alternative to 
sequestration that I'm proud to cosponsor that would cut spending 
responsibly, repeal subsidies to Big Oil, adopt the Buffett rule, and 
preserve the Medicare guarantee for seniors. Rather than pointing 
fingers, we should be looking at this and other reasonable alternatives 
that would provide critical relief for working families right now.

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