Senator Bernie Sanders is making Republicans squirm by pointing out that if the sequester is continued it will cost the American people 1.4 million jobs.

In a statement, Senator Sanders (I-VT) said:

These arbitrary sequestration caps have never made any sense, and now we see even more clearly the implications for our workers. If Congress does not act to end sequestration, we’re looking at the loss of as many as 1.4 million jobs over the next two years.

….

At a time when more than 10 percent of workers are either unemployed or underemployed, we should be doing everything we can to create jobs. We must end sequestration now ahead of the end of the fiscal year and prevent a budget showdown that will help nobody. It makes no sense to head towards a crisis when we have a clear path towards a better solution.

In a letter to Sanders, the non-partisan CBO wrote that if the cuts were removed 1.4 million for jobs would be created, “The ranges also suggest that full-time-equivalent employment could be 0.2 million to 0.8 million higher in calendar year 2016, and 0.1 million to 0.6 million higher in calendar year 2017, than projected under current law.”

In layman’s terms what the CBO found was that keeping the sequester intact will cost the American people 1.4 million jobs. In the next month, Republicans will claim that the country can’t afford to spend money, but what they won’t tell their constituents is that that sequester cuts are limiting economic growth and costing the nation jobs.

Bernie Sanders is exposing the truth about the Republicans’ economy killing policies. The sequester is bad policy that will have negative consequences for millions of veterans, the elderly, children, unemployed young people, and disabled Americans. According to the office of Sen. Sanders, the sequester would cut, “employment and training services for 1.4 million youth, dislocated workers and veterans; prevent 620 new community health centers from opening, reducing access to care for more than 2.6 million Americans; eliminate Head Start access for nearly 13,000 vulnerable children; deny comprehensive family planning and preventive health services to 430,000 people; reduce access to Community Learning Centers for 175,000 low-income students; cut the Veterans Health Administration by the amount necessary to provide medical care for more than 20,000 veterans; and prevent the production of approximately 40,000 affordable housing units.”

Bernie Sanders is not letting Republicans get away with devastating cuts to ordinary Americans. The sequester is a bad economic policy that if it is continued will have a devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable members of our society.