Political Quotes

“now that the elections are over, I renew my call for all of us to come together to do what is right and to act in the interests of the American people. We should come together to avert the fiscal cliff and the automatic cuts that will otherwise occur in domestic and defense spending. I am hopeful that, working together, Democrats and Republicans can come to an agreement so that we can avoid sequestration. The automatic cuts from sequestration would further damage our Federal courts. According to the sequestration report released by the Office of Management and Budget, the sequestration would lead to a $555 million reduction below fiscal year 2012 levels for our independent judiciary. The impending across-the-board cuts under sequestration would reduce Federal court allotments to fiscal year 2006 levels, despite considerably higher caseloads. The impact of sequestration on Federal court operations nationwide could be devastating. It could result in the Federal courts eliminating as many as 6,300 employees, about one- third of their staff, or implementing court employees furloughs for more than a month system-wide. If we do not find a solution to both the vacancy crisis and the threat to judicial resources, it will be harder for Americans to obtain justice in our Federal courts. Our courts are already overburdened, and the sequester will result in cuts that will force courts to hear fewer cases, which means that court proceedings will be delayed even longer.…”