FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2013 photo, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, repeats his call for President Obama to submit a budget proposal to Congress, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington. After two stressful years as Washington�s most powerful Republican and a pair of failed high-profile rounds of budget talks with President Barack Obama _ and disappointment over Obama�s re-election _ the battle-scarred House speaker has adopted a you-first approach. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) called on Speaker John Boehner to keep the House in session until a deal is reached to avoid sequestration.

With the House set to recess today for a full week, Bustos along with 20 other members warned that the imminent across the board cuts, which are set to kick-in on March 1, would have a negative impact on the economy and would lead to job losses. They urged the House to stay in town and work on a deal.

Bustos has always opposed sequestration, or the across the board spending cuts, because of the negative impact it could have on vital interests like the Rock Island Arsenal, and on middle class families and communities across Illinois’ 17th Congressional District.

Last week Bustos introduced the Government Waste Reduction Act (H.R. 530), a bipartisan common sense bill that would help reduce the deficit in a balanced way by reducing duplicative services and rooting out waste in government, while preserving crucial services and programs.

“With sequestration only two weeks away, it is unconscionable that Congress would go home rather than working together to avert the economic downturn on the horizon,” said Congresswoman Cheri Bustos. “We need to cut the deficit in a balanced way, not take an ax to our economy and put more people out of work. That’s why I’ve proposed the Government Waste Reduction Act, a bipartisan common sense bill to help reduce the deficit while keeping in place the programs middle class families rely on. I join my colleagues in urging Congress to stay in town until we take sequestration off the table.”