*Sequestration
“President Obama is right when he warns of the serious consequences to our economy and national security if Congress fails to compromise and prevent the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. Sequestration is an arbitrary, irrational policy that was intended to bring both sides to the table. Unfortunately, House Republicans have refused to bring an alternative to sequestration to the Floor for a vote.
MESSAGE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC WHIP
If Congress fails to act, two weeks from today, the Republican policy known as sequestration will take effect. Sequestration's extreme, arbitrary, across-the-board spending cuts would severely damage our recovering economy and threaten our national security. For the past eight weeks, House Republicans have failed to bring a single piece of legislation to the Floor to prevent sequestration from happening.
“Two weeks from today, if Congress fails to act, the Republican policy – the Republican policy – of sequestration will take effect.
“Mr. Speaker, we are on the brink of achieving the Republican policy of sequester.
“Unless Congress acts, in two weeks sequestration will take effect, severely damaging our economy and our national security. In the seven weeks this Congress has been in session, House Republicans have failed to bring a single piece of legislation to the Floor to prevent sequestration from happening. Democrats, meanwhile, have now introduced serious alternatives in both the House and the Senate that are balanced and that will avert the sequester’s most painful effects.
“The Gentleman who preceded me is new to the Congress of the United States. I've been here for a little longer than that, some 32 years. This is the least confidence building Congress – last Congress and this Congress – in which I have ever served. It is taking us from fiscal crisis to fiscal crisis. It is creating cliffs where no cliffs ought to exist, and they undermine the confidence of business, America, Americans, and, indeed, the rest of the world that needs a stable and secure America to ensure that we keep the kind of stability that Americans want here at home and around the world.
“Mr. Speaker, the President spoke to us last night and he talked to us about avoiding the sequester.
Over the past several weeks Republicans have increasingly shown their support of the sequester, which is due to take effect in just over two weeks.
“Mr. Speaker, tonight the President will once again walk into this chamber and lay out a vision for how to strengthen America in the years ahead.
As the March 1st deadline quickly approaches, there is still time to stop the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, from occurring. Unfortunately, many Republicans have indicated that they are willing to let sequestration happen in spite of the harmful impact it will have on the economy, our national defense, and on working Americans: