Speaking during a lunch meeting with members of the Montgomery County Council on February 11, Maryland’s Senator Barbara Mikulski (D) expressed concern about how badly the federal government’s looming sequestration might hurt the county.

“If the federal government catches a cold, Montgomery County could catch pneumonia,” Mikulski said.

She noted that the effect of sequestration will hit Montgomery County particularly hard, considering that it is home to 17 federal agencies and labs and employs 32,000 federal workers, in addition to those working for contractors.

Senator Mikulski also observed that Montgomery County is important to the economic health of the nation.

“This county is the incubator of American innovation,” she told council members.