Hoyer: Congress Should Be Taking Action to Prevent Irrational Sequester

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) spoke on the House Floor this morning about how Congress must work together to avert the sequester. Below are excerpts from his remarks and a link to the video:

Click here to watch the video.

"In his State of the Union speech, the President talked about [how] the American people deserve a vote. He's right. The American people deserve to know how Members are going to vote on issues of consequence to them, their families, and their lives, and their jobs, and their country. But [House Democrats] were denied a vote last week on… a substitute for the sequester, and we are again denied this week a [vote on our] substitute for the sequester."

"Sequester is an irrational response to our failure as a Congress… to get our finances on a sustainable path. We need to do that, and Democrats are suggesting a balanced way to do it. And by the way, every bipartisan commission that has dealt with this issue has recommended a balanced process to get from where we are to where we need to be."

"I would hope that we would spend next week – we're going to go on break next week as if we've done our job. We haven't. We ought to be spending time today, tomorrow, next week, and the week thereafter in avoiding the irrationality of the sequester process, but I have a list of Republicans here, all of whom say ‘bring it on. The sequester is ok.' Well, if we do the sequester, we're going to find out it's not ok."

"So, Mr. Speaker, I urge the Majority Leader [Eric Cantor], I urge the Speaker [John Boehner], to bring forth substantive legislation that is balanced, which will avoid the sequester taking place. It's bad for our people, bad for our country, and bad policy, and I yield back the balance of my time."