ms. speier: all right. it's now my pleasure to yield time to my good, good, good friend and colleague from california, who has been an outspoken advocate for gun violence prevention for decades, barbara lee. ms. lee: thank you very much. first of all let me thank you, congresswoman speier, for bringing us all together today to speak out on the important issue of addressing gun violence, not next month, not next year, not next congress, but right now. and i have to just thank you so much for your tremendous leadership. yourself and congresswoman mccarthy, both of you have so eloquently laid out why we need gun violence safety measures. both with your intellect and with your heart. both of you have shared your very painful experiences, really basically so that others can live rather than die from gunshots. thank you so much for staying the course. i can think of no more important subject than what we are talking about today because gun violence has been destroying communities, taking lives, and injuring too ma

ms. speier, for 30 minutes. ms. speier: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to compliment the gentleman from wisconsin and the freshmen members who participated in the last hour for a job well done in underscoring what the sequester means to americans across the country. i'm going to shift gears now and i'm joined by my good colleague from virginia, congressman moran, and we're going to talk about gun violence. you know, those of us who have been victims of gun violence see horrific pictures in our minds over and over again. mine was over 30 years ago but i am still haunted by visuals of that day. my leg being blown up and my arm being blown up. and really thinking that he was going to die -- that i was going to die. and when you look death in the eye, there's a certain clarity that comes to you. a certain clarity about what's important. a certain fearlessness to deal with issues that maybe you wouldn't have dealed with under other circumstances. so i am haunted by more recent events in newtown -- newton. i'm haunted by the story told by noah. little

ms. speier for her comment, and in the spirit of smartization, i'll add i agree this is an important issue as we look at our out-of-control debt, deficit and spending problems. we hear calls for revenue increases, and for the american people watching in the hearing and listening to the high-risk list and how long things have been on the high-risk list, i think they would be very discouraged if not disgusted that we're not doing better, and i think it would be a shame to ask the american people for another dime of revenue until we start to solve these problems. so in that spirit, i'm looking forward to working with my colleagues in addressing these important issues. so, again, i will thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule as well as your staff to appear before us today, and the committee stands adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> president obama says essential government workers could lose their jobs if congress fails to head off those automatic, across-the-board spending cuts. the cut, called sequester, are due to take effect on march 1st. the pre