[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12195-12196]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        EFFECTS OF THE SEQUESTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I've come to this floor nearly every week 
since the sequester took effect in March to highlight its dangerous 
consequences to our national security, its harmful impact on our 
economy, and the pain it is causing the most vulnerable people in our 
country.
  Now, with the sequester in its 21st week, this Congress has still not 
achieved the big, balanced and bipartisan solution to deficits that we 
need to replace the sequester and put America back on a sound fiscal 
path.
  Only such an agreement, Mr. Speaker, can provide a viable alternative 
to the irrational cuts this sequestration has imposed. Those cuts are 
already exacerbating the many challenges we face as a Nation.
  Later this week, I will be delivering meals to seniors in my district 
with the Meals on Wheels program, which could be delivering 4 million 
fewer meals nationwide as a result of the sequester.
  One small business owner from my district recently reached out to my 
staff to say that he was personally impacted by Meals on Wheels when 
the grandmother who raised him was diagnosed with cancer and came to 
rely on Meals on Wheels during the final part of her life.
  He couldn't believe that after all the good work the Prince George's 
County Meals on Wheels office had done, that they were being forced to 
reduce their operations significantly as a result of the sequester.
  Surely, Mr. Speaker, the richest country on the face of the Earth 
does

[[Page 12196]]

not need to leave people, particularly seniors who can't get out, 
hungry.
  Other harmful effects on the most vulnerable Americans include an 11 
percent cut to emergency unemployment insurance payments and 125,000 
fewer rental assistance vouchers.
  Mr. Speaker, as many as 70,000 children could be kicked out of Head 
Start--they're only going to be 4 once--including approximately 800 
children in my own State.
  I read on Monday in The Washington Post about the Whitney Young Head 
Start Center in Yonkers, New York, Mr. Speaker, which has served 
primarily Hispanic families for more than 12 years, teaching kids 
English and providing them medical services and meals. It closed down 
on Friday, a victim of sequestration.
  And on Monday, an article in the Huffington Post drew attention to an 
effect of the sequester that represents a dangerous undermining of 
justice, and that is the cut to public defenders who represent 
defendants in the Federal court system who cannot afford their own 
attorneys. This fulfills the Constitutional requirement that everyone 
is entitled to legal representation. It can't be waived.
  That report in The Washington Post says, ``The Public Defender system 
hasn't just been stripped bare by sequestration, its bones have been 
chiseled away as well.''
  Mr. Speaker, can we risk delaying justice for victims and their 
families because our country can't afford public defenders?
  Do we want cases dismissed against people who have done wrong because 
the Constitution says they have to have a defense that we can't afford, 
apparently?
  I met yesterday with Maryland District Court judges, about eight of 
them, and they raised this issue as one of critical importance. And one 
of the judges, a Reagan appointee, was obviously very animated at how 
we were undermining the very essence of the judicial system. Surely no 
one on this floor intends to do that.
  At the Defense Department, 650,000 civilian workers are already being 
furloughed 2 days a month. That's an effective cut in pay of 20 percent 
for hardworking people on whom we rely to maintain the national 
security of our country.
  On July 2, I visited with civilian defense workers from Pax River 
Naval Air Station in St. Mary's County, and I heard from my 
constituents there who are being forced to stay home from work without 
pay. They were certainly concerned about their families' finances.
  But Mr. Speaker, these hardworking and patriotic public servants were 
far more worried about furloughs' effect on our military readiness and 
support for our troops in the field on those Fridays when many are 
forced to stay home, and not at their post. Legally, they can't even 
come to work and volunteer their time.
  The sequester is hurting morale and putting our security at risk, Mr. 
Speaker, at a moment when our troops are still in harm's way every 
single day, Fridays, otherwise known as furlough days, included.
  I'll be going to another installation in Maryland's Fifth District on 
Friday, Mr. Speaker, the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Indian Head, 
to meet with civilian employees there. I will tell them that Congress 
has the ability to end the furloughs they are experiencing now.
  We have the ability to keep those kids from losing Head Start, and 
our seniors from losing meals. We have that ability now. We can do so 
by coming together in a bipartisan way to replace the sequester with a 
balanced alternative that includes spending cuts and, yes, revenues.
  This is what Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen has put 
forward seven times, Mr. Speaker, only to see it prevented by the 
majority from receiving a vote.
  The Speaker says, let the House work its will. Well, perhaps this is 
the will of the House. I hope not.
  I urge my colleagues to work together across the aisle so we can end 
the sequester and restore fiscal discipline in a way that does not harm 
our security, our economy, the most vulnerable in our country, or 
America itself.

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