Tucson, Ariz. – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva will speak at a press conference at noon Arizona time today in Tucson with Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and others to discuss the economic impacts of the federal budget “sequester” implemented today. The event is at City Hall at 255 W. Alameda in the first floor meeting room.

Grijalva voted against the Budget Control Act of 2011, which created the sequester as a triggered outcome if Congress and the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to reach an agreement. The bill was passed by the House Republican majority, prompting Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) to comment that he “got ninety-eight percent of what [he] wanted” from the deal.

As Grijalva recently discussed in an op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star on the sequester, local impacts will be severe. The Mariposa Community Health Center is expected to operate with a $150,000 reduction in budget due to cuts in federal support for doctor and dental visits for some uninsured Arizonans, among other factors. You can read the entire op-ed at http://bit.ly/XGh4Yi.

Grijalva and many of his Congressional Progressive Caucus colleagues introduced the Balancing Act last week to cancel the sequester and replace it with reasonable controls on Pentagon payments to contractors, the closing of tax loopholes that only benefit very rich individuals and corporations, and new investments in job creation. The House Republican majority has not brought it up for a vote. You can learn more about the Balancing Act at http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/balancing-act/.

If You Go

What: Press conference with Rep. Grijalva, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, and others to discuss sequester impacts on Southern Arizona

When: Noon today Arizona time

Where: City Hall first floor meeting room, 255 W. Alameda