Press

The effects of the GOP-forced sequester cuts that took effect at midnight last night stand to hurt middle class families, seniors, children, and our men and women in uniform across the country. See below for how this reckless decision by congressional Republicans is playing nationwide.

Over the next few weeks middle class families will begin to feel the effects of this sequester. Seniors in need will not receive the food they count on, afterschool programs will be cut, thousands of teachers will be laid off, we’ll see reductions in treatment and support for mentally ill children, and Military families’ health care could be cut. The American people expect congressional Republicans to act and get something done consistent with what Americans want – as expressed in the polls and at the ballot box last November.

It wasn’t just about the famous water lunge. Senator Marco Rubio’s response to the State of the Union was most notable for how much it sounded like the very same failed policies that Republicans have been running on for years if not decades – the same failed set of ideas that Mitt Romney ran for president on just last year as the GOP’s standard-bearer.

Tonight, President Obama urged Congress to take action to reduce our debt and deficits in a balanced way that maintains our commitments to the middle class, seniors and students. As he laid out tonight, our path forward is one that includes reasonable proposals that have already been supported by Members from both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, Senator Marco Rubio refused to acknowledge that our path forward is one that Republicans are ready to agree on.

In 2011, Marco Rubio said programs like Medicare ''actually weakened us as a people.''