A combative President Barack Obama blamed Republican lawmakers Friday for failing to stop automatic spending cuts that were to begin kicking in later in the day, calling the cuts “dumb, arbitrary.”
Republicans said the fault was his, for insisting that increased taxes be part of the resolution.
The president said the impact of the cuts won’t immediately be felt, but middle class families will begin to “have their lives disrupted in significant ways.” He said that as long as the cuts stay in effect, Americans will know that the economy could have been better had they been averted.
“The pain, though, will be real,” Obama said.
He said he still believed the cuts could be replaced but he wanted a deal that includes more tax revenue.
“Let’s be clear: None of this is necessary,” Obama told reporters at the White House. “It’s happening because of a choice that Republicans in Congress have made. We shouldn’t be making a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts to things.”
Obama met for less than an hour Friday morning with House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
Boehner’s office said he and McConnell told Obama they’re willing to close tax loopholes but only to lower taxes overall, not to replace spending cuts. Obama and congressional leaders have agreed that Congress should pass a bill funding the government beyond the end of March while they keep working on a way to replace the spending cuts, Boehner’s office said.
“The president got his tax hikes on January 1st,” Boehner said bluntly after the meeting with Obama. “The discussion about revenue in my view is over. It’s about taking on the spending problem here in Washington.”
On Thursday, two proposals aimed at blunting the blame over the cuts — one Democratic and the other Republican — were rejected in the Senate.
(CNN)
6 Responses
Dumb? Who’s brilliant idea was it? Yours !
exactly!!!
you see, the republicans never get it, Obama always gets what he want
obama got the tax increases by coming up with sequestration
then obama gets one of two options, either the republicans cave or they get his highness according to the news media to blame them on the cause for the spending cuts
response. republicans blame obama. call tax increase dumb
Hes the one who chooses what gets cut why didnt he choose to cut all the garbage programs that can wait? Its all politics to him even playing with other ppls lifes
It seems that the agencies run by career civil servants are able to absorb the cuts (less than 2% of the total Federal budget, though often in the 5%-10% range) without disruption through cutting waste, or furloughs that aren’t disruptive (such as having “closed” days on national holidays when they are largely closed. By contrast, the Defense Department (which is always run by politicians), chooses to reduce spending for military operations overseas or for repair major warships in order to preserve programs such as studying for how the military can fight wars on other planets or on “green” programs that in no way help in the real world.