Rick Larsen: “Before we start patting each other on the back for this bill, I think it's important that we recognize that we are not…”

“Before we start patting each other on the back for this bill, I think it's important that we recognize that we are not fixing the bigger problems that the sequester has created. Earlier this month, The Bellingham Herald reported that Head Start students in my district will have to begin finding their own way to school as bus service is being cut because of the sequester. Perhaps now we can ask these 4-year-olds to ride their tricycles to class or, because of this bill, maybe book a flight. Children in military families at NAS Whidbey Island are going to go to schools where budgets are being cut because of reductions in Impact Aid mandated by sequestration, but we're not doing anything to help those kids today. We are not helping seniors in Arlington, Washington, who are getting Meals on Wheels no longer delivered to them. This is not just my district. Every Member of this House represents a district whose kids and seniors are being hurt thanks to our failure to clean up the mess we caused. This lands somewhere short of a profile in courage. This is a Band-Aid, and sequestration needs triple bypass surgery. Sequestration is a little bit like the person who kicks a boulder and then blames the boulder for his broken toe. Congress created this problem. We need to fix it.”