Let me be clear, those impacts would be severe and must not be allowed to occur.

Unless Congress acts by March 1st, a series of automatic cuts—called a sequester—that threaten thousands of jobs and the economic security of the middle class will take effect.

We cannot simply cut our way to prosperity.

You've served with integrity and decency and grace.

If a sequester takes effect, up to 373,000 seriously mentally ill adults and seriously emotionally disturbed children could go untreated.

The tenure of Secretary Leon Panetta...will be remembered for historic progress in welcoming more of our fellow citizens to military service.

This son of immigrants...will be remembered for historic progress in welcoming more of our fellow citizens to military service.

Balance is how we're going to approach it.

What public service ought to be.

We need to be carefully reducing the deficit in a way that protects the most vulnerable.

The most damaging effects of a sequester on the middle class are cuts to education.

It grows from the middle out and the bottom up, not from the top down.

I am honored to nominate them today to serve the American people on the United States Court of Appeals.

Let us retain that humility not just during this hour, but for every hour.

We must keep that same humility that Dr. King and Lincoln and Washington and all our great leaders understood is at the core of true leadership.

I want to do something big to provide certainty and steadiness for the economy and for American families.

I have no doubt that we will continue the extraordinary progress that we've made already.

I am confident that they will be judicious and esteemed additions to the Federal Circuit.