North Hills Congressman and Other Local Lawmakers Weigh in on Sequestration

Several departments in Allegheny County may be impacted by the sequester, the automatic budget cuts will begin officially at midnight.

U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus said in a recent op-ed piece that the cuts are indiscriminate and fail the first step of good budgeting: prioritization. 

"We need to control spending so that we do not run out of money for critical items such as seniors’ and veterans’ health care, infrastructure projects, and a robust military capable of deterring aggressors. This is not the way to do it," Rothfus, R-Sewickley said.

Instead of these arbitrary, across the board cuts, which will impact selected domestic and military programs, Rothfus said prior to the sequester that President Obama and the Senate should work with the House to take a scalpel to spending.

But the clock has run out and there has been no compromise. Pennsylvania politicians had their doubts.

"I'm not sure the federal government has demonstrated it's qualified to teach financial literacy," said U.S. Senator Pat Toomey during a conference call Wednesday.

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper Saint Clair, told WTAE the White House is using "scare tactics" to frighten people over the sequester.

The White House released a report showing the impacts to Pennsylvania.

What impact will it have on Pennsylvania residents? According to a release from U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, there a lot of ways citizens will notice the change.

“Young children will be hurt by these cuts,” said Sharon Easterling, Executive Director, Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children.  “In Pennsylvania, the statewide waiting list for child care subsidy will grow from 6,500 to over 11,000 children and at least 2,300 Head Start children would lose service almost immediately.  This is bad for children and families, and undercuts our efforts to close the achievement gap for at-risk children.”

And the local economy may suffer, with continued job losses.

According to Politico.com, “many Republicans now support the sequester cuts as a way for the government to tighten its belt, barring any better budget-reduction plan.”

Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, has co-sponsored a bill to “soften the blow of sequester,” according to the Post Gazette.

He said the proposed bill he is sponsoring will help give decision-making power back to the administrators that deserve it.

“"[Sequester] gives no discretion to the managers of the agencies or the administration -- or anyone, for that matter -- to decide which of these programs has greater importance, greater urgency than another," Toomey said to the Post Gazette. "There are any number of contrasts and comparisons you could make, but -- in my view -- a government subsidy to Solyndra wouldn't be as high a priority as maintaining air-traffic controllers."

Rothfus said replacing the sequester requires finding $84 billion in smart cuts to that budget. Read Rothfus's entire op-ed article here. 

For the full report on Toomey’s response to sequestration, visit this Patch article.

What do you think should be done? Raises taxes? Enact specific spending cuts? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.

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