Esty Op-ed: Stop the sequester

Through a tough economy, Connecticut small businesses and families have done the right thing. Manufacturers like Jonal Laboratories in Meriden and Marion Manufacturing in Cheshire have pulled through and made strides through hard work and innovation. But inexplicably, Congress is not only standing in the way, Congress is set to hurt Connecticut’s economy with self-inflicted across-the-board cuts by allowing sequestration to go through this Friday, March 1.

According to the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis, sequestration will directly and indirectly cost Connecticut almost 42,000 jobs. Sequestration will cost our children, our seniors, and many who rely on social services. A White House Report detailed some of the losses facing people in our state. Among the report’s findings, this year alone, cuts to primary and secondary education could cost around 120 Connecticut teachers and aides their jobs and mean that 8,000 fewer Connecticut students would be served, 500 Connecticut children would lose Head Start and Early Head Start services, and Connecticut seniors would lose over $200,000 in needed funding for meals.

But we need to remember that the impact goes far beyond numbers – this is about real people with real jobs. That’s what sequestration puts at stake.

I was reminded of that last week in Farmington, when, along with House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, I heard from leaders in small business, labor, government, health care, and social service from across our state on the impact of sequestration.

There was a sense – shared among participating labor and business leaders alike – that we’re finally on the verge of better days – that struggle and hard work is about to pay off, particularly for our manufacturers. But, inexplicably, instead of avoiding this very avoidable sequester, Congress would rather play a high stakes game of chicken and not only squander new opportunities but outright devastate our economy.

I heard from business leaders that small business owners see “pockets of opportunity,” but that they have “no confidence whatsoever because the inability of government to cooperate.”

John Harrity, President of the Connecticut State Council of Machinists, put it perfectly when he said that after all the progress our manufacturers have made, “to lose all that momentum just defies common sense.”

Leaders in social services and education shared how the sequester will hurt Head Start students and their teachers in Danbury and New Britain, and seniors in Meriden who rely on Meals on Wheels for their daily nutrition. Cuts to FEMA will hurt folks in Connecticut and across the northeast who are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy and recent winter storms.

Sequestration will impact almost every sector of our economy. The consequences are serious and real. People are frightened, and people are extremely frustrated with Congress – justifiably so. What’s maybe most troubling, is that there is no reason businesses and families in Connecticut, or in any state, should be facing this catastrophe. It is entirely self-inflicted and avoidable if House Republican leaders would allow Congress to vote on an alternative.

I’m supporting Representative Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) Stop the Sequester Job Loss Now Act that would eliminate the sequester and reduce the deficit by more than the amount of the scheduled across-the-board cuts by enacting commonsense, cost-cutting policies – repealing subsidies for big oil and big gas, refocusing subsidies for big agriculture, and enacting a “Buffet Rule” so that the wealthiest are paying their fair share. That’s a good alternative to the economic devastation sequestration would bring. At the very least, this bill deserves a vote.

Congress needs to act. The House GOP leadership shouldn’t be sending Congress home without addressing this self-made problem. Small businesses can’t afford to lose everything, for no fault of their own, after working so hard to come back. Families in Connecticut and across the country can’t afford this gamesmanship. They need all of us in Congress to do our jobs, so that they can keep doing theirs.