Last week, I joined my progressive colleagues in the House – Alan Grayson, Keith Ellison, and Sheila Jackson – in delivering more than 300,000 signatures to Speaker Boehner, demanding that he bring my legislation, the “Cancel the Sequester Act of 2013” to the House Floor for a vote.
This bill is only a single line, but with it Congress can prevent the damaging, draconian budget cuts that are set to fully kick in at the end of this month.
This so-called “sequester” targets low-income, under-served communities that have already been the hardest hit by the Great Recession. That is why I have introduced the "Cancel the Sequester Act of 2013" (H.R. 900).
So far, more than 300,000 individuals have lent their support to this effort, and signed on to a petition calling for a vote in Congress on repealing the sequester. Now that we have Speaker Boehner’s attention, we have to keep the pressure on him to let the voice of the people be heard. Because, at the end of the day, it is real, honest and hard-working people who will be hurt the most by the budgetary sequester.
By signing on as a citizen co-sponsor, you can become a part of the movement to stop this self-induced blow that will damage our economy and tear apart our safety net.
I hope that you will support me in this important effort.
Please become a citizen co-sponsor today.
Beginning this month, cuts to essential programs like the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, and aid for Women, Infants, and Children will begin to set in.
Even more specifically, if the sequester is allowed to take full effect:
• 70,000 children will be kicked out of the Head Start program
• Public housing funds will be slashed by $1.94 billion
• The National Institutes of Health will be cut by $1.6 billion, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be cut by $323 million
• FEMA’s disaster relief funds will be cut by $375 million
… all amongst other devastating cuts to critical programs that our communities rely on.
I introduced H.R. 900, the “Cancel the Sequester Act,” February 28th – the day before the budget sequestration was slated to start its ticking time bomb of cuts. With just one line, stating that, “Section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is repealed,” Congress can diffuse this catastrophe.
Help me stave off these devastating cuts before they begin to inflict real harm: become a citizen co-sponsor of the “Cancel the Sequester Act” today.