Budget cuts are coming if Congress doesn't act now, and we will feel the impact of a no-deal right here in the mid-state.
The deadline to stop the so-called sequester is this Friday and at this point it doesn't seem like either side is budging.
While the House was in session Monday and Congressman Perry is back in D.C. Monday night, it's hard to get the sense that Washington is panicking about this as Congress was again, in a scheduled recess for all of last week.
On Monday afternoon, at a town-hall meeting in Fairview Township York County, Representative Perry said there is at least one thing that we can all agree on. "You've got a lot of rhetoric from both sides. The President says that planes are going to fall out of the sky because there are no air traffic controllers, first responders aren't going to show up, I don't know that is true at all."
Ed Uravic a Professor at Harrisburg University says the politicians have gotten themselves stuck. "Unfortunately there is not much posturing left to do. The politicians in Washington have done all they could in that regard and now they have all painted themselves in a corner. Basically scaring the American people with these real budget cuts and cuts in services that people rely on, so that the American people will rise up in anger and force the politicians to finally get something done."
Uravic is a former lobbyist and congressional chief of staff. He says there are a lot of things that can't be cut. "A lot of the government is off limits to the budget cuts, such as military pay, retirement, veterans benefits, health care for the poor and almost all of medicare."
But the parts of the budget than can be cut, such as civilian military employees, could be hard hit. "We only have seven months left in this fiscal year, so we have to make 12 months of budget cuts in seven months."
on Monday, Representative Perry complained the Democrat controlled Senate is not doing its job. "If nothing happens in the Senate good or bad or indifferent, nothing moves. You understand that the Senate hasn't passed a budget, this May it'll be four years."
However most Republicans don't think these across the board cuts are good for America.
"The evidence there is the Republicans own effort to find a way to soften the cuts because they know these cuts will have impacts on everyday people." Uravic said.
Perry says there should be more talk about each program's spending. “I would like to have a broader discussion, not have the sequester but have a budget discussion about how our money's coming in and where it's going agency by agency and program by program to see what we can support.
We reported last week about the local impact to the military. The White House has now released how the cuts will affect other areas of the PA budget such as education and childcare. But Representative Perry is not as concerned. "I don't see why that's that big of an issue, I mean I think that there might be some concern, but I don't see what the President is saying, the teachers are going to be out on the street."
The deadline to stop the so-called sequester is this Friday and at this point it doesn't seem like either side is budging.
While the House was in session Monday and Congressman Perry is back in D.C. Monday night, it's hard to get the sense that Washington is panicking about this as Congress was again, in a scheduled recess for all of last week.
On Monday afternoon, at a town-hall meeting in Fairview Township York County, Representative Perry said there is at least one thing that we can all agree on. "You've got a lot of rhetoric from both sides. The President says that planes are going to fall out of the sky because there are no air traffic controllers, first responders aren't going to show up, I don't know that is true at all."
Ed Uravic a Professor at Harrisburg University says the politicians have gotten themselves stuck. "Unfortunately there is not much posturing left to do. The politicians in Washington have done all they could in that regard and now they have all painted themselves in a corner. Basically scaring the American people with these real budget cuts and cuts in services that people rely on, so that the American people will rise up in anger and force the politicians to finally get something done."
Uravic is a former lobbyist and congressional chief of staff. He says there are a lot of things that can't be cut. "A lot of the government is off limits to the budget cuts, such as military pay, retirement, veterans benefits, health care for the poor and almost all of medicare."
But the parts of the budget than can be cut, such as civilian military employees, could be hard hit. "We only have seven months left in this fiscal year, so we have to make 12 months of budget cuts in seven months."
on Monday, Representative Perry complained the Democrat controlled Senate is not doing its job. "If nothing happens in the Senate good or bad or indifferent, nothing moves. You understand that the Senate hasn't passed a budget, this May it'll be four years."
However most Republicans don't think these across the board cuts are good for America.
"The evidence there is the Republicans own effort to find a way to soften the cuts because they know these cuts will have impacts on everyday people." Uravic said.
Perry says there should be more talk about each program's spending. “I would like to have a broader discussion, not have the sequester but have a budget discussion about how our money's coming in and where it's going agency by agency and program by program to see what we can support.
We reported last week about the local impact to the military. The White House has now released how the cuts will affect other areas of the PA budget such as education and childcare. But Representative Perry is not as concerned. "I don't see why that's that big of an issue, I mean I think that there might be some concern, but I don't see what the President is saying, the teachers are going to be out on the street."
