On the recordMarch 6, 2013
Let me thank the gentleman for yielding time this morning. Let me associate myself with the last comments made by Mr. McGovern. He is absolutely correct; the American people are beginning to feel the impacts of sequestration. My friends on the other side of the aisle are always talking about: We don't have a revenue problem; we don't have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem in this country. Well, Mr. Speaker, we have a deficit problem in this country. There are two ways, at least, where we can address the deficit. We can address it with more revenue, which is what I strongly recommend, and we can also address it with very important cuts. We have got to have a balanced approach to deficit reduction. So I've come to the floor today to strongly oppose this rule. Mr. Speaker, I don't like the way H.R. 933 evolved. We read about it in the news media this weekend. We returned to Washington on Monday afternoon and there it was, posted. We were told that the rule would be taken up today and we would be voting on it tomorrow. But then a snowstorm came into this Capital City, and now we are voting on the rule and the CR today and we are leaving town. That is not the way to do it. The Republican majority has instead elected to move with a bill that provides new funding levels and flexibility to just the Department of Defense and military construction and veterans, while keeping the antiquated funding levels for the remaining 10 appropriations bills. Mr.…
