Chris Van Hollen: “As we debated yesterday, the bill before us is unfortunately nothing more than a political gimmick at a time when we're…”

“As we debated yesterday, the bill before us is unfortunately nothing more than a political gimmick at a time when we're facing huge issues with respect to jobs and the economy. It's very unfortunate that we did not have an opportunity to vote on an amendment that we proposed to replace the sequester--which is now less than a month away and which will do grave economic harm--our proposal to replace that sequester with a balanced mix of cuts and revenue from closing loopholes. But in this body, which says it wants to be transparent in the people's House, we were denied an opportunity to take a vote on something that's very important to the American people, as opposed to playing the political games we've been playing with this bill. With that, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished Democratic leader, the Representative from San Francisco and the daughter of Baltimore, the home of the Super Bowl champions, the Ravens.”