Kevin Brady: “Thank you for yielding. As you may remember, the President proposed this sequester originally in discussions about the…”

“Thank you for yielding. As you may remember, the President proposed this sequester originally in discussions about the budget and has threatened to veto any legislative efforts to turn off that sequester. Perhaps that's why Republicans, Democrats, and the President recently signed legislation that locks in those lower spending levels for the remainder of the budget year, and Congress has provided the administration the flexibility to cut funding from the nonpriority provisions, areas, of the budget so we can prioritize those important areas that you discussed. As we all remember, what the sequester did was take, in effect, a 500-pound government and insisted that it lose 10 pounds. That's what the sequester does--a minor amount but important because this Nation is running such dangerously high deficits. So, clearly, there is bipartisan agreement on the spending levels for the budget for the rest of the year. I think that's the regular appropriations process that Chairman Rogers is bringing forward in which we'll have a chance, Republicans and Democrats, to amend it, to get our ideas to the floor. I think that adds extra importance to that process.”