WASHINGTON – Florida leaders are speaking out after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan budget deal on Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) released the following statement:
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"I cast my vote in support of this budget deal today as an important step forward for bipartisan compromise. While this plan is not perfect, it replaces some of the devastating sequestration cuts to key investments like education, medical research and law enforcement for 2014 and 2015. The deal also protects critical programs such as Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid from any cuts.
"However, the agreement does not include an extension of unemployment insurance that is set to expire for more than one million Americans. It is unconscionable that Republicans will not allow a vote to help those who need it most.
"As a Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee, I look forward to getting back to a regular annual budget process, for which this plan allows. I'm hopeful that today's bipartisan vote is only the beginning. We still have big challenges ahead of us, like comprehensive immigration reform and ending discrimination in the workplace. These important issues, and others, will require both parties to come together in order to help make people's lives better so they can buy a house, send their kids to college, and save for retirement. My Democratic colleagues and I, along with the President, are ready to do our part to find common ground. We need our colleagues across the aisle to meet us halfway and do what's right for the American people."
Congresswoman Lois Frankel released the following statement explaining her no vote on the budget bill Thursday evening:
"This budget deal is better than the status quo and it's good to see bi-partisan cooperation. With that said, because of the cuts to Medicare, reduction to military retirement payments and leaving millions of Americans desperate without any source of income because of failure to renew unemployment insurance, I voted no."
Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24) issued the following statement after the US House of Representatives passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013:
"Budgets are moral documents. While this budget deal takes some important moral stands by safeguarding entitlements including Social Security and softening Sequestration's savage cuts—which fall on teachers, firefighters, medical researchers, and other hardworking Americans—it fails to uphold Congress's moral obligation to millions who have been locked out of the job market.
Even as America recovers from the Great Recession, the plight of the long-term unemployed remains as serious as ever. My top priorities for 2014 are to restore unemployment insurance and—above all else—to return Congress to its rightful focus: Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!"