Congressman Garamendi Votes to Reduce Flight Delays and Calls to End Sequestration Now

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA) voted for H.R. 1765, bipartisan legislation that will prevent staffing shortages at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), thereby reducing travelers’ flight delays in California and across the country. Having already passed the Senate, the bill will now head to President Obama, who is expected to sign it into law.

Congressman Garamendi continued to call for a complete end to corrosive sequestration budget cuts, which, according to bipartisan and nonpartisan estimates, will destroy at least 750,000 jobs. The Congressman has voted several times to replace sequestration with a balanced plan to create jobs and responsibly reduce the deficit (Votes #33, 41, 51, 59, 61, 83, and 87).

Congressman Garamendi released the following statement:

“Today I voted to end the flight delays caused by the political turbulence known as sequestration. While needed to keep commerce moving in America, this legislation does not come close to adequately addressing a growing crisis: sequestration is starting to tear away at communities in Northern California and across the nation. I have voted to end sequestration multiple times and will continue to speak out against the unnecessary pain it inflicts.

“The American people have shown their grit, determination, and resilience since the economy tanked in 2007 – leading to 37 straight months of private sector job growth. I urge my colleagues to truly represent their constituents by ending sequestration’s capricious cuts and supporting our economic recovery. Ending preventable flight delays is good, but Congress also needs to prevent the draconian cuts to our nation’s defense, research, Head Start, and children’s health care that are already causing alarm among families in my district.”

Unless undone, sequestration is likely to result in the following effects on a local, state, and national level:

• The furlough of thousands of dedicated civilians at Travis and Beale Air Force Bases, who respectively fulfill vital Air Mobility and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions for our country.

•UC Davis will see more than $42 million cut from its research budget (slashing the seed corn of our future) and a $4.6 million hit to its health system. The students most struggling to afford tuition will see hundreds of dollars taken out of their pockets with cuts to work study and grants.

• The already underfunded Army Corps of Engineers will be even less capable of strengthening levees to protect communities across California's 3rd Congressional District from flooding.

•More than 400,000 Californians, who are out of work through no fault of their own, will see their Unemployment Insurance payments cut.

•In California, $5,375,000 in funding will be cut from a program that provides meals for sick and homebound seniors

•In California, 3,000 victims of domestic violence will lose access to support services.

•In California, 15,810 children will lose access to vaccines for diseases like measles and whooping cough.

•Approximately 8,200 of California’s most disadvantaged children will lose access to Head Start early education.

•In California, around 1,210 teacher and aide jobs will be at risk.

•Nationwide, about 125,000 families will be at immediate risk of losing permanent housing.

• More than 398 national parks across the country would be partially or fully closed, with shortened operating hours, closed facilities, reduced maintenance, and cuts to visitor services. These closures will hurt the many small businesses and regional economies that depend on nearby national parks to attract visitors to their region.

• Nationwide, over 750,000 jobswill be lost.