Sequester will ‘hurt our families and slow our growth’

>> thanks, michael. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, the budget cuts are here. for real. but do the republicans even care? afterall, wall street is doing great. stocks are nearing record highs. just take a look at the front page of today's new york times. here's the headline about corporate america . rek recovery in u.s. is lifting profts but not adding jobs. wall street is buoyant. but a more troubling headline is buried inside the paper. as automatic budget cuts go into effect, the poor may be hit particularly hard. this aes the real story here. the rich are getting richer and these republican budget cut that is will make the poor even poorer, as the president is doing his best to soften the blow.

>> wer going to manage it as best we can to try to minimize the impacts on mern families. but it's not the right way for us to go about deficit reduction. we're going to do the best to make sure that our agencies have the support they need to make some very difficult decisions. understanding that there are going to be families and communities that are hurting. and that this will slow our growth.

>> this will hurt our families and slow our growth. but republicans refuse to admit it.

>> is this going to hurt the economy?

>> i don't know if it's going to hurt the economy or not. i don't think anyone understands how the sequester is going to work.

>> he doesn't know if it's going to hurt the economy. two weeks ago, boehner wrote a column saying the cuts would threaten u.s. national security , thousands of jobs and more. so what happened in those two weeks? amnesia? folks, republicans are just not being honest about these budget cuts.

>> even today, there's no plan from senate democrats or the white house to replace the sequester.

>> it's just not true. they made it very clear, as the president just did, that he has a plan that has put fordward entitlement cuts and spending cuts. that you have a choice to leave tax in the polls in place and you'd rather live with those.

>> well, david, it's just nonsense. if he had a program, why wouldn't senate democrats go and pass it?

>> there was a plan. democrats did try to pass it. it was called the american family economic protection act. the senate held a vote last thursday and republicans voted to filibuster it. they refused to allow a vote on it. these budget cuts are already kicking in. we're seeing it at our air ports, at our borders and our cities. we must hold the republicans accountable for them. congresswoman, let me start with you. are republicans not realizing how bad these cuts are?

>> well, i'll tell you, al, i can't believe that they've done this. i don't know what they're hoping for. but the reality is that in every single community all across this country, people are going to feel the impact of these cuts. in my district alone, obviously, we have a lot in the metropolitan wa r washington area . a lot of federal workers. i know that they are on pins and needles trying to figure out what's going on. in communities across the country that have military facilities, with contractors, with civilian department of defense employees, school children, head start , you name it, it's going to be felt. e.j., you know homeland security secretary said this morning about how the cuts are already affecting lines to enter the u.s. at our airports. listen to this.

>> we will begin today sending out furlough notices. we are already seeing the irports, for me of the ports of example, some of them had very long lines this weekend.

>> i would say 150 to 200% as long as we would normally expected.

>> now, will a republican not care about these long lines at airports until it starts affectiaffec affecting corporate jets?

>> this is not like a government shutdown where everything shuts downright away and everybody notices. this is like first you create ramshackle government by sort of cutting back here and there. but eventually, these cuts are going to bite. and i think the republicans are going to start getting into a more difficult position. i think the whole congress will. when r when it takes a lot longer to get flights in because they cut back on the air traffic control system. and a loot t of money comes out of the budgets of lots of school districts and has an indirect effect on kids whether they are middle class rich or poor. i think it's going to take time before people fully realize what these cuts mean. but once they start realizing it, i think there will be a reaction.

>> well, it's going to take time for everybody to understand what they mean. but some people are feeling it immediately. for example, women. 34,248 fewer law enforcement officials get domestic violence training.

>>> so i mean if you're in the beltway and have a nice house out in the suburbs, it may take a while for you to feel it. but if you're in a zern area and you're depending on some of what has now been taken away, it is a major impact to you right now,

congresswoman: well, that's right. and i think about the 235,000 domestic violence hotline call that are going to go unanswered because the money is not there. e.j. is right. it won't be felt right away. but there will be a ripple effect down the line. in just a couple weeks, students starting to get ready to figure out their financial aid packages, pell grants , stupt loans. and then people across the country are going to make their members of congress get their religion and get back here in washington to do their work. one, we haven't even worked that much this year. but when we have, we've been naming buildings and, you know, doing adjournment votes and voting on the day's proceedings where we actually haven't done anything for the day. it's time for republicans in the house. it isn't just the senate's job to do its work. it's time for the house to do its work, too. speak speaker boehner is the one who controls the gavel.

>> now, e.j., you know when you look at the fact of women, look at what's happening to poor people . 775,000 women and infants may lose nutrition and formula aid with the wic program . 125,000 individuals and families may lose housing assistant. 125,000 homeless people may lose emergency shelters. the first line of a column you wrote last week is this has to stop. it's only going to get worse and worse and worse while we protect who? people with loopholes on private jets and private yachts? this is absolutely obama scene. obscene. none of us realize exactly what government does out there. the wic program is a program that everybody -- and by the way, particularly right to lifers on abortion want to support. this is helping the most vulnerable people in our society. these aren't give away programs. and i hope that this sequester, if it does nothing else, begins to create a public education process where we may criticize government in the abstrakt. but there are a lot of these concrete things that government does that are a real assistance to people and actually do something for the whole society.

>> congressman, you're on the hill. what kind of insight can you give us. is there any movement at all? are people dug in? i mean, what can you tell us is going on with your colleagues?

>> it does feel like my republican colleagues have dug in they're heels. you know, democrats have actually put forward a plan to end the sequester and to take a balanced approach. when you go after wic programs and student loans and housing and employment programs, when you go after breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings, it sure does feel like a war and the republicans want to keep it there.

>> well, congresswoman, you say that we haven't done much work this year. somebody is doing a job on us. congresswoman, thank you for your time tonight.

>> good to be with you.

>> ahead, inside president obama 's tough new plan to shame the gop into a deal. he's daring them to defie his wishes. plus, mr. 47% is back. but another republican is making real news today. this gop civil war is just getting started.

>> and congressman john nuers here of the civil rights movement moved to tears by an apology. why a march from selma to montgomery was not a commemoration but a continuation. big show ahead. stay with us.

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