Tsongas Disappointed With "Sequestration Lock-In" Vote

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a short-term spending member that Westford's member of Congress says will lock in the recent spending cuts and tax hikes known as sequestration.

In a 221-207 vote, the House passed the a bill that would establish the Fiscal Year 2014 budget and impact budgetary levels for 2015 to 2023 that Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) calls "irresponsible" and "reckless" for not addressing the sequestration issue.

In a statement, Tsongas says calls sequestration, which began with the debt ceiling debate last year, as threatening the country as a whole, but specifically her district, saying her office has heard of hundreds of constituents who oppose the sequestration as a concept.

"In short, these draconian cuts threaten to stifle an economy that over the past few years has been showing encouraging signs of growth. I have always believed that finding additional savings in our federal budget was an absolute necessity as we work to reduce our deficit," says Tsongas.  "However, the sequester equally weakens programs that Democrats and Republicans agree are working, along with those we believe are wasteful.  That just doesn’t make sense."

Specifically, Tsongas noted that due to sequestration, local impacts would include a 75% funding cut to the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, the closure of air traffic control services at Lawrence Municipal Airport, and furloughs at Hanscom Air Force base to name a few.

“I firmly believe a solution is still possible but (this bill) is not it. There is room for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that combines targeted spending cuts with new revenue sources, just as every bipartisan group that has looked at this problem has suggested," said Tsongas. "That is what America needs, not another temporary fix that locks in deep, senseless, and damaging cuts.”

All Democrats in the House, including the entire Massachusetts delegation, opposed the bill, except for three members not present.

The bill also gained ten "No" votes from Republicans and will head to the Senate.