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Van Hollen: Sequester Was Not Kicked Down the Road

It was 'replaced' for two months

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) insisted that the sequester was not "kicked down the road," but rather "replaced" it for two months in a Sunday interview with "Fox News Sunday":

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: A couple of points John. First of all John, the sequester was not kicked down the road, it was replaced for two months, with a combination of cuts--

REP. JIM JORDAN (R., OHIO): "Replaced" means postponed, which is what Washington is great at doing, Chris.

VAN HOLLEN: No, Jim, you have to get the facts straight.

JORDAN: I have them straight.

VAN HOLLEN: We have $24 billion in deficit reduction. Half it was cuts and half of it was revenue, not nearly enough but the model going forward is to continue to do a balanced approach of cuts and revenue. Number two, what America got is we didn't go over the fiscal cliff. I mean, I know you voted to go over the fiscal cliff--

JORDAN: I voted not to raise taxes on anyone.

VAN HOLLEN: Yeah, because you didn't want to ask people making a million dollars per year to pay a little more.

JORDAN: You could have stopped every single person from having their taxes go up. The president could have stopped it but what you guys decided is we want additional revenue.

Pentagon officials have expressed frustration and concern with the two-month sequestration delay, which keeps 800,000 civilian employees under the threat of layoffs.