On the recordFebruary 27, 2013
The gentlewoman from Florida hit it exactly on the head. This is about real people. This is about the effects that sequestration will have on real people, the kind of people who, when they hear ``sequestration,'' they think it's a medieval torture. Average people don't come up with a term that only Washington could devise, which is what we've done with the sequester. Let me tell a real story from my district. There's a woman in Marshall, Wisconsin, who sent me an email. I'd like to share that with the American people. Here's what she says: It's being reported that the effect of the sequester on average Americans will be minimal. In the case of our family, this is not true. My son is a civilian firefighter at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha. Today, he gave me a call to tell me that all the firefighters would be getting a letter Friday explaining that their shift crew size will go from 19 to seven immediately. As a firefighter, he must work 106 hours-- versus 80 for the rest of us--to receive overtime. In addition, their overtime will be eliminated. That will result in a 40 percent reduction in pay for my son's family. His wife is in graduate school, and they had their first child in December 2012. There is a real face to the reductions. Please use your energy and Wisconsin progressive common sense to put a stop to this across-the-board reduction. That's another real story of someone being affected. It's not about a $4 million TV station at the IRS.…
