[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6091]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ACROSS-THE-BOARD BUDGET CUTS

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, later today, the House will vote to restore 
funding to the Nation's air traffic control system to better protect 
the traveling public and to restore order to a vital sector of our 
economy by shifting unused funds.
  Two lessons are hopefully now learned:
  Across-the-board budget cuts are abysmally stupid. Cut a program 
that's vital to the health, safety and the economy, and what about this 
unused money over here? Oh, we can't move that, so we took care of 
that.
  Second, there are some here who believe the Federal Government 
doesn't need to and should not invest in facilitating the movement of 
goods and freight and people in this country. It should devolve to the 
States.
  Well, this is an object lesson in how vital these Federal programs 
are to the Nation's airspace. And next year, when the Highway Trust 
Fund goes below zero and we cut spending by $50 billion on highways and 
transit, we will have another crisis. Let's hope we don't have to see a 
million layoffs and total disruption across the country before we fix 
that one. Fix that one before it happens.

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