Congressman Simpson today supported H.R. 6365, the National Security and Job Protection Act, offered by Representative Allen West. The bill would require the President to submit a legislative plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion to avoid the mandatory budget sequester scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2013.

After the failure of the “super committee” to agree on $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction last year, an automatic across-the-board spending cut, known as a sequester, is scheduled to come into effect unless Congress can come to an agreement to reduce the debt by that amount.

“I supported this legislation because the upcoming sequester is an unacceptable outcome, and we must continue the conversation on how it will be averted,” said Simpson. “It is important to remember that the sequester is not intended to be the solution to our debt problem; rather, it is the penalty if Congress fails to act.”

House Republicans have already offered and passed the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, which would avert the sequester by replacing it with budget cuts and reforms to a variety of mandatory spending programs.

“We still haven’t seen a proposal from the Senate or from President Obama detailing what they would like to do to avoid a painful sequester next January,” added Simpson. “Senator Reid and President Obama should put forth their proposals so that both sides can immediately begin debating and agree to a plan to start dealing with the massive $16 trillion national debt facing us.”