Richard L. Hanna: “Last Friday, sequestration went into effect. The House has passed two plans to replace sequestration with smarter…”

“Last Friday, sequestration went into effect. The House has passed two plans to replace sequestration with smarter, targeted spending cuts. Unfortunately, the Senate has not approved a plan. We desperately need to cut spending, but sequestration is an extremely poor way to do it. Where I'm from in upstate New York, it means taking an ax to cybersecurity precisely when we need it the most. It means furloughing the men and women who make sure that our Armed Forces get paid. It also means slashing education programs that make our country more competitive. We need to make tough, smart choices and reduce spending now so that we don't hand our children the most regressive tax there is--an immoral national debt approaching $17 trillion. There is no reason and should be no reason why both sides can't agree on cutting $85 billion. Mr. Speaker, we need to replace this sequestration with responsible cuts and reforms. Let's do it as soon as possible. ____________________”