A letter from Patty Murray.

[Phlem]

Dear Mr. Phlem

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, an agreement that Chairman Ryan and I reached that sets government funding levels through 2015.


As you may know, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (BBA) was introduced on December 10, 2013, and was passed by both the House and the Senate with strong bipartisan support. This agreement breaks through the recent dysfunction in Congress to prevent another government shutdown and scales back sequestration's harmful cuts to defense and domestic investments in a balanced way.


The agreement provides $63 billion in sequester relief over two years and is split evenly between defense and non-defense programs. The sequester relief is fully offset by savings elsewhere in the budget. The BBA includes dozens of specific deficit-reduction provisions both from spending and new revenue, with savings totaling approximately $85 billion. The agreement also reduces the deficit by $23 billion.


Reaching an agreement was crucial in protecting the fragile economic recovery. The BBA puts jobs and economic growth first by rolling back automatic and harmful cuts to education, medical research, infrastructure investments, and defense jobs for the next two years. It won't solve every problem the automatic cuts have caused, but it is a step in the right direction and a dramatic improvement over the status quo.


This bill wasn't exactly what I would have written on my own, and it's not what Chairman Ryan would have written on his own. It's a compromise, and that means neither side got everything they wanted, and both sides had to come together. If we didn't get a deal in place, we would have faced another continuing resolution that would have locked in the automatic cuts or worse, a potential government shutdown. So, while there is much more to be done, the BBA is a step in the right direction that can hopefully rebuild some trust and serve as a foundation for continued bipartisan work.


Thank you for contacting my office and sharing your opinion. If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my updates at http://murray.senate.gov/updates .
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Still all about the "bipartisanship" cause that's what the R's all about. I would guess, what with all the severe stonewalling from the Repugs, that's what they were thinking,... yeay bipartisanship! PBO gave her a job, pass the bill, that she did. The bull she's included in this letter must be easier to deal with than saying no to the President. Yeay! Bipartisanship! Hope ya'll can tread water another 30 years.

:/

p

[liberal_at_heart]

1. This bill was unacceptable and there is no defending it.