Sen. Patty Murray says the deal she reached with Republican Rep. Paul Ryan will spare Washington state residents from another round of across-the-board budget cuts—welcome news to researchers at the University of Washington.
Murray says the budget deal replaces automatic sequestration cuts with reductions that she says are smarter and more targeted. She says that means government workers in Washington state probably will not have to work shorter weeks like they’ve done this year.
"We had many civilian employees, about 6,700 of them, who were furloughed this past year because of sequestration. That meant their family didn’t get a paycheck, and they didn’t spend money in their local stores, said Murray, D-Wash.
And, the senator says, organizations like the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington will fare better under the budget agreement than they did under sequestration. UW vice provost for research Mary Lidstrom says many departments have not been able to hire new staff, and some have had to lay off staff as a result of federal budget cuts. She says she was thrilled to hear a deal had been reached.
"It does, at least at this point, look as if there will not be further cuts, because we were bracing for that, that was going to have a major impact here," Lidstrom said.
One thing Murray says she regrets she couldn’t persuade the Republicans to agree to was extending jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. But Murray says she aims to keep fighting for that separately from the budget legislation.
