SANTA MARIA - Central Coast Congresswoman Lois Capps was all hugs, handshakes and smiles with constituents at her new Santa Maria field office at 1101 South Broadway.
But the looming deadline for sequestration and the sharp, automatic federal budget cuts it will bring was very much on her mind.
"I'm going to take their (constituent) stories back to Washington D.C.", Capps says, "we have no business with artificial self-imposed deadlines when they wreak havoc on the economy just as its beginning to rebuild."
Capps says she's aware that the mandatory budget cuts would include furlough days and possible job losses in the military and across federal government departments.
"We have many federal employees here at Vandenberg Air Force and in our national forest and at all kinds of installations", Capps says, "but its more the ripple effect than those people going on furlough or maybe having their hours cut, it's the impact to our economy in general."
The Congresswoman returns to Washington D.C. at the end of the week for what she hopes will be a renewed spirit of bi-partisan compromise to avoid sequestration and reach a new budget agreement.
"I'm hoping that my colleagues are hearing from their constituents as I'm hearing from mine", Capps says.
Capps says she's ready to join her fellow Democrats in Congress and pursue genuine compromise but points out Republicans need to come to the table with the same intent.
Republicans are standing firm on across the board spending cuts while President Obama and Democrats want to include increased revenue from closing tax loopholes.
