On the recordMay 10, 2012
I thank my colleague from Massachusetts, and thank him for his leadership on efforts to ensure that those families who are struggling most in our country continue to have access to food and nutrition, and that children in our country continue to have access to health care. And that's what this debate is all about, because we do have an alternative. There is no disagreement on two things: Number one, we need to reduce our deficit in this country in a credible way; number two, the meat-ax approach of the sequester is not a smart way to do it. So how should we go about reducing our deficit? Well, we propose to do it in the same balanced way that every bipartisan commission that has looked at this issue has recommended--through a combination of difficult cuts. And I would remind everybody that just last August we cut a trillion dollars through a combination of cuts as well as cuts to tax breaks for special interests and by asking the wealthiest people in this country, people who are making $1 million a year, to contribute a little bit more toward deficit reduction.
