Deja 2 Vu All Over Again

Floor Speech

Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, it's déja 2 vu all over again. Here we are just 2 weeks--5 legislative days--away from sequestration, and yet the House is about to leave town for a 9-day recess. That's unacceptable. We should be working every day to avoid this sequester and to avert it.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem determined to make sequestration a reality. Democrats stand ready to work in a bipartisan manner to avoid this.

Yesterday I met with Federal employees and college leaders from Michigan who are deeply concerned about how the cuts will affect middle class families, students, and senior citizens. Here's sequestration by the numbers:

750,000 jobs eliminated by October;

20 percent reduction in the Pentagon's operating budget;

70,000 children kicked out of Head Start;

21,000 fewer food and drug inspections;

4 million fewer meals served through the senior nutrition programs.

We need to find a balanced and responsible approach to reduce our deficit, for sure, but not let irrational, across-the-board cuts take effect. Doing so will devastate this economic recovery.

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