Date: 2013-09-19
Speaker: VAN HOLLEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank my friend. the ranking member of the Rules Committee. Mr. Speaker. it is simply reckless for our Republican colleagues to say they will shut down the United States Government unless we shut down the Affordable Care Act. a law which is already providing protections to millions of children in this country who have preexisting conditionslike asthma. like pediatric cancer. like diabetesand to millions of seniors on Medicare who have high drug costs. but whats also irresponsible and undemocratic is that the Republican majority has refused to allow us even a vote on a plan to replace the sequester. Now. whats the sequester? The sequester is Washington speak for a jobkilling mechanism. Its meatax. immediate. acrosstheboard cuts that are doing damage to our economy. You dont have to take my word for it. The independent. nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. which is the referee around here. says that. at this time next year. we could have up to 1.6 million fewer jobs in this country as a result of that sequester. By this time next year. we could see economic growth cut in half as a result of the sequester. Look. the good news is the economy is growing. and the bad news is that its growing very slowly. The last thing the American people need is a selfinflicted wound by this Congress that slows down the economy and puts fewer people back to work. but thats what the sequester does. We should do something about it. which is why the Democrats have a proposal to replace it. to replace it with targeted cuts over a period of time and. as Mr. ANDREWS said. targeted cuts to big tax breaks. like oil subsidies. If you do that. you will eliminate the bad parts of the sequester. but you actually get the deficit reduction part. In fact. our plan would give you even more deficit reduction during the period of this plan. Weve tried eight times now to get a vote on thatjust a vote. In this House. the socalled "peoples House." we havent been able to get a vote. I hear our Republican colleagues say they dont like the sequesterI hear them say that to their constituentsbut what they dont tell them is theyve denied us the chance to have a vote on a plan to replace the sequester seven times. Mr. Speaker. guess what else they dont tell them? How many times during this Congress have our Republican colleagues put a plan on this floor to replace the sequester? Zero. Zero times. Now. Mr. COLE. I have to correct you because we have now a concrete plan to replace the sequester for 2014. Its right here. Wed like a vote on that plan. Mr. Speaker. Wed like a vote. We think Members should be held accountable when they go back home and tell their constituents they want to get rid of the sequester and then come here to the United States Congress and deny us an opportunity to have that vote. deny the people of this country the right of accountability for their Members of Congress. So lets take action today. Lets vote "no" on the previous question. and then this House can have a chance to vote on our plan to replace the sequester and get rid of the drag on the economy. which. according to the CBO. is going to cost us up to 1.6 million jobs. Thats democracy. Thats just letting this House work its will. What Im afraid of. Mr. Speaker. is that our colleagues are afraid to have that vote in the light of day. There is no other explanation for why they would be denying the American people that opportunity. So what I ask is: either say to your constituents you really do like the sequester. and you support the sequester. and you dont mind the jobs that are being lost as a result of the sequester. or vote for our sequester replacement. or at least come to the floor of this House with one of your own because. right now. weve tried eight times for a vote. and our Republican colleagues have tried zero times in this Congress to replace that sequester. So we ask that you vote against the previous question and give the American people the chance to hold us accountable for what we say at home. Hold us accountable right here in the Halls of this Chamber.