Congress Must Come Together to Stop Sequestration & End Era of Manufactured Crises, Garamendi Says
March 1, 2013
WALNUT GROVE, CA – Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), whose district will suffer from tens of millions of dollars in lost wages and increased unemployment if the thoughtless unfocused cuts from sequestration continue, today called on Congress to come together and pass a responsible deal that includes a balance of cuts and revenue. To do this, Congressman Garamendi implored House Republican leadership to call the House back into session. He issued the following statement:
"Our economy has experienced significant growth since the Great Recession that began in 2007, but the constant barrage of unnecessary manufactured crises is hampering our recovery. We should be investing in research and education, not slashing them in a haphazard way. We should be preserving vital defense priorities while eliminating waste and abuse, not taking a sledgehammer to our national security budget. We should be building roads, public transit, and levees, not taking construction equipment out of the hands of roadside crews.
"It is unfathomable to me that Congress is not in session. House Republican leadership controls the calendar. Neither I nor any Democrat in the House can change that. For the good of our nation, we must return immediately to session and put this sequestration behind us so that the American economy can surge forward.
"We need a balanced growth-oriented deficit reduction strategy, one that includes smart cuts and revenues that don’t imperil our fragile recovery. Action to date has reduced the long term deficit by nearly two trillion dollars. We can and must take the next step to complete the $4 trillion deal that the President put on the table. We can reduce the deficit and grow the economy by eliminating waste and fraud, by closing tax loopholes – ensuring that those who have special access and power pay their fair share – and by creating sufficient job opportunities.
"The 750,000 jobs that will be lost nationwide if sequestration is unabated will ripple through our entire economy, causing families and small businesses to suffer. In my district, UC Davis will see more than $42 million cut from its research budget, the students most struggling to make ends meet will see hundreds of dollars taken out of their pockets, and thousands of civilian employees at Travis and Beale Air Force Bases will be furloughed, losing as much as 20% of their income. Teachers will be laid off, national parks and beaches will close, and American ports will be less secure. Every day sequestration continues, it tears deeper into our economy and our communities. We should nip it in the bud.
"The United States deserves a functioning government that honors its obligations, that pays its bills, that protects critical investments, and that works to build the economy and not to contract it.
"As the President said today, 'the greatest nation on Earth does not conduct its business in month-to-month increments, or by careening from crisis to crisis,' yet that’s exactly the situation we’ve seen in Congress for over two years now. Enough is enough. Let’s get to the table and come up with a permanent deal. We’re a better nation than this, and if we’re going to stay the greatest nation on Earth, the Era of Manufactured Crises has to end."