Lowey Statement on Bipartisan Budget Act

December 12, 2013
Press Release
Lowey Statement on Bipartisan Budget Act

Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, today delivered the following statement on the Bipartisan Budget Act:

“Mr. Speaker, the budget deal is a breakthrough in a difficult budget year and a dysfunctional Congress.  As with any compromise, there are elements I oppose; yet, this agreement should help us do our jobs for the American people and end the shutdown standoffs.

“It provides some relief from the devastating impact of the sequester cuts on our economy and American families.  Keeping sequestration in place through fiscal year 2014 would cost up to an estimated 1.6 million jobs. Now, the House and Senate must restore regular order to craft bills that instead create new jobs and protect important priorities like medical research, security and infrastructure upgrades, and early education.

“This agreement restores over 60% of the sequester on nondefense discretionary spending in 2014 and restores those bills to roughly the FY2013 enacted pre-sequester levels. It would hold defense funding levels, roughly consistent with the 2013 level after sequester. 

“The bill before us includes elements I don’t like and fails to address others it should.  First, I am deeply upset that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle insisted on extending the 2% sequester on Medicare providers for an additional two years as part of the package’s offsets. We should not extend their sequester burden.

“It is also unconscionable that the deal does not extend long-term unemployment benefits.  Even with the progress our economy has made since the depths of the recession, there are still 1.3 million fewer jobs today than six years ago.

“Four million Americans have been looking for work for more than six months.  More than 1.3 million of them will lose their benefits—and for some, the only income they have--  just three days after Christmas and three days before the new year. 

“Today’s bill will provide some economic certainty about fiscal policy over the next two years, which should boost growth and job creation.

“Because we cannot continue lurching from crisis to crisis, and despite my misgivings about the extension of Medicare provider cuts and failure to address long-term unemployment, I will vote yes.”

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113th Congress