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Senator Murray's Amendment
Jun 27, 2012
Senator Murray Champions Domestic Programs
When the Senate Farm Bill was being debated, Senator Patty Murray (WA) offered an amendment that would require the administration to assess how all federal programs would be affected by the automatic, across-the-board cuts that could be required under a “sequester” if it takes effect on January 1, 2013. She worked with Senator McCain (AZ) to broaden his original amendment that pertained only to military spending, to bring one bi-partisan message about all of the potential effects of a sequester. The amendment was adopted by voice vote. Senator Murray and Senator McCain may offer the same amendment to other legislation moving through the Senate, to ensure that it becomes law.
Senator Murray has pointed out that most of the talk in the media seems to be about the harm that the Defense Department might incur from automatic cuts. Military contractors have been relentless in their claim that jobs would be lost and the country would be less safe, if military spending were to go up less than originally planned.
Number 2 giant military contractor – Lockheed – has announced that it will send out pink-slips to 123,000 of its workers just days before national elections, even though eventual planned cuts in the Pentagon budget would not require anything close to such drastic action. Domestic programs, on the other hand, have already absorbed hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts, resulting in an actual (not projected) loss of more than 530,000 state and local government jobs.
Senator Murray urges people across the country who anticipate (or have already experienced) deep reductions in programs they rely on to contact their senators throughout the summer, when a series of votes will be taken.
FCNL’s message to these senators: support a comprehensive budget package that includes revenues, investments in our slowly recovering economy, protections for programs that serve the most vulnerable people, and slowing the phenomenal growth in the Pentagon budget.
See Senator Murray’s amendment here.
