[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6372]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           TIME FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO FACE SEQUESTER

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, the Federal budget is approximately $3.6 
trillion; $2.4 trillion is what we call ``mandatory spending.'' That's 
Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest payments on the debt. 
Approximately $1.2 trillion is the discretionary budget, and we sit 
here and moan about $85 billion in sequester. Businesses have had the 
sequester over the past 3 to 4 years. Not-for-profits have had the 
sequester for the past 3 or 4 years. It's about time that the Federal 
Government sequestered also.
  I want to thank the President for addressing the mandatory-spending 
program. With his chained CPI address on Social Security, he recognizes 
the fact that, if we want to stop sequestration from occurring, 
mandatory programs have to be reformed.

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