WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) — U.S. President Obama said he and Congress have an opportunity to get something done before $85 billion in federal spending cuts go into effect next week.
“Hope springs eternal,” Obama said about whether the White House and Congress can act to avoid the sequester before it goes into effect March 1.
“I will just keep on making my case, not only to Congress, but more importantly to the American people, to take a smart approach to deficit reduction and do it in a way that doesn’t endanger our economy and endanger jobs,” Obama said during a media availability with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Obama said he’s been clear about an alternative that would be a balanced approach of spending cuts and revenue producers, such as closing tax loopholes.
Obama has spoken by telephone with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
“So I will continue to have conversations with members of Congress both while they’re gone [this week in recess] and when they get back next week,” Obama said. “My hope is that we could see a different course taken by Congress. This should be a no-brainer.”
Unlike the debt ceiling crisis, the sequester going into effect won’t threaten the world financial system, Obama said.
“It’s not like the equivalent of the U.S. defaulting on its obligations,” he said. “What it does mean, though, is that if the U.S. is growing slower, then other countries grow slower because we continue to be a central engine in world economic growth.”
On Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama “had good conversations” with the two Republican leaders but offered no details. Spokesmen for Boehner and McConnell didn’t expand on the calls either.
A Boehner aide told CBS News “the last substantive conversation” Boehner had with Obama was Dec. 28, just before a New Year’s Eve “fiscal cliff” deal. A McConnell spokesman said Obama’s last outreach before Thursday was New Year’s Eve.
Republicans interpreted the latest outreach as a public relations stunt and not a new basis for negotiation, CBS News said.
The cuts — established as part of the 2011 deal to raise the federal debt limit — represent a small slice of the government’s annual $3.5 trillion budget, and big-ticket programs such as Social Security and Medicare benefits are exempt from them.
The cuts are expected to be phased in gradually over several months.
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
66 thoughts on “Sequester not inevitable, Obama says”
I read what LVS and maybe say about our President and wonder what they would be saying if it were Gov. Romney now in the WH and the US in the same situation. I am sure it would be the Dems fault and that Gov/”Prez” Romney would lead us to the promised land if only all the Dems could see the light or drop dead.
Both LVS and maybe profess often to be middle of the roaders and both say they have nothing against our President other than he is an idiot, a socialist, an Islamic jihadist, a liar and so on and so on. How much better off do you think we would be if Romney was in the White House? The statistics that show the upper 1%’s income has increased dramatically over the past 5 years and that the rest of us have seen a decrease would only be enhanced if the Repubs were there.
I also think it is funny that LVS is for cutting everything except what is “near and dear” to him – Social Security and Medicare.
Right, government spending is only wrong when it doesn’t go into LVS’s pockets.
In answer to your question, we will never know.
Love Fox news LVS. It seems they are the only ones to stand up to this self proclaimed most transparent administration ever. Also you really got to like the passing of the buck over the release of the illegals in Arizona.
@blog-The you tube link came to me in a e-mail. Woodward I saw on CBS and Fox.
Here is something I found on you tube. It might give you something to think about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeYscmFpEyA This is what our country was founded on and I think we have forgotten that.
It’s a good thing you saw it because it must have been too much for youtube, they removed it.
@maybe-They said the White House was really pissed and that Obama had called this guy personally to tell him how upset he was. Basically, he said we should march on Washington and demand our rights. He also said there should be term limits for all congressmen and they should be on social security like the rest of us.
When I watch other news channels, CNN, MSNBC, plus others I go to different web sites to double check the stories and most of the time the stories are alittle different but when I do the same thing for FOX News the stories are for the most part the same. I saw this morning that the white house chief of staff called woodward and yelledand threatened him for 30 minutes for releasing his story. Something just doesn’t sound right in the WH.
@maybe-I watched Woodward on CBS talking about this, and he said he had not seen anything as bad as the lies coming out of the White House since Nixon. He had a e-mail from the White House threatening him. They had exactly the same thing on Fox News which I consider the best once you get past Duecy.
I admit that there are some reporters and hosts on FOX News that has it in for obama so I don’t watch them but when it comes to the real news FOX doesn’t spin it around to make our king look good like the rest of them do. I may sound like it but I don’t have it in for obama, I just see him for who he is, a liar and a con artist. I hope he isn’t a wanna be dictator although it is looking that way. When he was first elected in 08 I was dissapointed but then the first things he did I agreed with but then things changed. When he would say one thing on camera then a week later say just the opposite and deny he ever said anything but and the news just goes right along with it. Even a second rate reporter could see he was lying yet they don’t call him out.
@maybe-they have a article on Woodward on MSN this afternoon. It is exactly the same as what I saw this morning.
Thank god only two more days of listening to Osama Obama cry like a spoiled bitch about a 2% reduction in spending. This is the same fool that said at the start of his first term that if he didn’t cut our debt in half he should not run again. He sure has memory problems along with being a spending addict. You have to really be a hard core, hands out, sheep of a spend-o-crat to not think we have an out of control spending problem.
We can all continue to chew on each other to satisfy our egos & viewpoints I suppose. To me the much larger issue is that the administration simply does not have the political back bone to propose a meaningful rework of entitlement programs – which is where the real budgetary problem lies.
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the general social safety net are all programs that generally were generated by past Democratic administrations that we must now deal with. The real irony for me is that the party that wants to beat its chest over these achievements does not seem able to make corrective changes so as to perpetuate their existence and not crash the federal finances. So we are left with this 11th hour standoff.
Bob Woodward continues to fault the President for moving the goal posts and generally for not acting in good faith. On MSNBC Woodward said “he’s exhibiting a “kind of madness I haven’t seen in a long time”. This just reinforces my general assessment that Obama is still nothing more than a junior league political hack from Chicago.
Hasn’t the reptilian right been arguing for across the board budget cuts for decades? If they weren’t prepared for the effects of the sequester, then why vote for it in the first place? That’s right. They thought the progressives would never let welfare reform take effect. Wrong. Let’s see how the military-industrial complex likes it when its welfare is reformed, too. That’s why the only whining and hand-wringing is coming from the right.
Sickastupid that is true more Republican voted for the Budget control act then Democrats but it still passed both house and that means the Democrat controlled Senate. And the President signed it. He could have vetoed it. There were not enough votes for a override. The President owns the sequestration just as much or more than the republicans. As far as filibuster goes Happyguy the Senate has not pass a budget for 4 years. Two of those years the Democrats controlled both house and the President and they still could not pass a bill. Senate rules filibuster can’t be used on budget bills. So there is no reason not to bring up and pass a budget, except they don’t want any record of how they voted and no leadership from the President.
Well, Tim, if you are aware that this is a bipartisan issues, what’s with the Obama rant earlier? Clearly there is enough blame to go around – why are you just dumping on Obama? What are your thoughts on the repubs who are refusing to vote on this? What words do you have for them?
Sickstupid I like the fact that there are cuts. I do not think this was the best way or even a good way to make the cuts. I think in Washington they tried to play chicken with each other and so far neither side has ducked. There is no leadership on either side in Washington. I don’t think there will be the dramatic fall out from the cuts that the Democrats are warning of and I don’t think the Republican will win for cutting spending. Like I said before, the level of spending cuts in the sequestor were not that big and making those cuts should not have been a problem. We waste that much money.
This is such a crock. Sequestration was Obuma’s idea and he signed it into law TWICE. He trying to I cut the military and to get at the Republicans. He figured they would let him raise taxes if there was enough pressure. Hopefully they will not. The 2nd time Obuma signed the law agreeing to the continuation. It would stop if the Senate passed a budget. The house has sent one over to the Senate and nothing has been done with it. The Democrats done want to go only any record of what really want. This has nothing to do with the fear of a filibuster because the Democrats are the majority in the Senate and refuse to bring up the budget. And as far as this BS about having to cut FAA works, USDA inspectors and law enforcement all that is is scare tactics to try and get the Republicans to raise taxes. There are more than enough other area in the government that could be cut to get without hurting any of these jobs. We just gave tanks and planes to Egypt, and they don’t like us and that alone would have saved most of the money. Obuma knew this was coming why not hold that up. Look how many new spending programs Obuma wanted in the State of the Union speech. He does not care cutting the debt or sequestration. If he did he would get the Senate to work on a budget. We are only talking about $85 billion that is barely 4 days of running the government we should be able to cut that and more with out breaking a sweat.
I’m happy to see that you didn’t let facts get in your way.
Let me give you a little assist, here, Tim:
The sequester was part of the Budget Control Act, passed in 2011 with bipartisan support. In fact, a larger share of House R’s voted for the bill than D’s: 174 (73%) voted for it and 66 against, while Ds were split 95-95. In the Senate, 28 Rs voted for it and 19 against, while D’s supported it 45-6.
Voting in support of the bill that contained the sequester were Reps Boehner, Ryan, Cantor and Sen. McConnell.
Speaker Boehner said of the bill including the sequester: “I got 98% of what I wanted.” Given their highly amped up disdain of the sequester now, I find it hard to believe that this was the 2% he didn’t want.
On the day of the vote, Rep Paul Ryan explained the spending cuts in the bill to Sean Hannity, adding the following:
“And if they breach that amount across the board, sequester comes in to cut that spending, and you can’t turned that off without a supermajority vote. WE got that in law. That is here…”
So, should we be calling this “Ryan’s sequester?”…“Boehner’s sequester?”
No. We—they—should stop acting like truculent kids on the playground, get to work, and defuse their latest fiscal time bomb.
And you should know what you’re talking about before you open your mouth.
@stupid, the only problem with that is that sure the sequestration was slipped into the budget control act but since the republicans didn’t know what it was they didn’t ask questions. Both lew and nabors wrote it under the direction of obama then gave it to reid who put it in the act. When the act passed yes the republicans were happy but they had no idea what the sequester was.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bob-woodward-obamas-sequester-deal-changer/2013/02/22/c0b65b5e-7ce1-11e2-9a75-dab0201670da_story.html
Maybe, that is an opinion piece written by a guy who is as far right wing as you can get. He has made it well known who much he detests this president, so he’s entitled to his opinion, but opinions are like you-know-what. Everybody’s got one.
I prefer to go to the bills opencongress.org and actually read what these rascals are doing and make my opinion based on that.
Using somebody else’s opinion as fact is a big part of the problem we have in this country.
Actually it isn’t an opinion piece, it is his research for his book. It doesn’t matter if he hates or loves obama, it is the result of his research.
The budget that is being cut for the military is in the maintenance section. Now some consperiocy therorist would say that would be the perfect way to undermind the military while trying to disarm the citizens and proclaim martial law. I don’t know for sure but I do know there is something behind it.
@maybe-as much as I dislike Obama I really don’t think he would try to take over the country. I do not think the military would support that and you can be sure the guard wouldn’t. Then of course you have a whole bunch of us old guys with guns that damn sure would put up a fight.
Ok I think you may need a little help. 2% of the budget to get cut..? The sky is falling. Do you think the fear mongering could get any worse. (The Dems use that quite often) This morning on 1300 AM (not Fox Happy) said right now they can easily find 46 Billion in monies that are left over or from programs that are doubled or tripled doing the same thing. Its fear man fear. That is why POTUS has been all over the country to spread fear about the evil Repub. and how he has tried to compromise. He nevers take responsibility does he? That is why the White threw Janet Napolitano under the bus saying ICE made the decision about releasing illegals. He is the United States President our leader I would like to see him lead by being in Washington doing his job (leading). But I think he thinks it is beneath him to roll up his sleeves and get busy he is all about campaigning and organizing opposition to people who are against any of his agenda. (Oh by the way what is his agenda????)
As Sick has stated, this has been an issue since summer 2011. All I want to know is why it hasn’t been fixed yet.
As long as the repubs hold the House, this stuff will happen. They have no interest in the country. They only want to win.
@sicka-come on now-you are a bright lady. Do you really want to give any of these crooked politicians regardless of party a free hand. The reason our country works is we have checks and balances with our three branches of government. Without different party’s you have a dictatorship and I don’t think you really want that and neither do I.
Absolutely not, LVS. A one party system is the reason our ancestors jumped on those boats in the first place!
But this Congress is broken. I blame everybody, but in truth, I blame the tea party the most. This is a game to them – who can hold out the longest. It’s not about that mature checks and balances system you and I so fondly recall. This is a game to WIN, no matter the cost.
I long for the days of Dole, Kennedy, Rockefeller and Goldwater. Did we have crazies then? Sure, but the actual statesmen in the group settled them down and legislated fairly decently. They made a lot of mistakes, but at least they did something.
This new group is like a bunch of petulant toddlers, holding their breath and refusing to budge. And the media has created an uneducated fan base for them. Look at Steve King! That man is an outright embarrassment for this state, but he was able to fool enough people to get elected!
It’s a disgusting shame.
@Sicka-Now I agree with you. I don’t know what has happened to our politicians. At least before they used to pretend to have some honor and would hide their crimes. Any more they seem to be proud that they are screwing us.
I agree with her too but I would like to add 1 name to the list of polititians who fooled us to get reelected.
I don’t know why I’m doing this to myself, but if just ONE of you can lay down your ridiculous accusations and even more ridiculous name calling, let me try and explain this to you.
In a few days, $85 billion of automatic spending cuts will slam down on the federal budget. Half of the cuts will hit defense; half will hit Medicare spending.
We’ve been expecting this since the summer of 2011. We were supposed to deal with it in December—remember the words fiscal cliff?—but most of Congress punted the cuts to March first.
How did this become Obama’s fault? It started as a bipartisan tool, a consequence so heinous as to insure that it would never happen. It was to get the repubs to stop playing games with the world economy and raise the debt ceiling.
Now, it’s those same repubs who are refusing to stop it from happening.
Boehner loved this sequester until he discovered that his party was taking a beating over refusing to accept the 20 percent capital gains tax that goes along with it. They know how bad this is making them look, so they’re doing their best to call it Obama’s sequester to try and throw the blame off themselves – the guilty ones.
Did you hear that? The REPUBS are going to allow 85 million dollars in cuts to the military to save their tax breaks on capital gains.
Do some research people, seriously.
@sickastupd I have done my research and I do not agree with you. You can spin this all you want but Obama signed this into law. This was the Left and the Right that agreed to this.
I think a 2% cut in spending is a doable thing, (That is not even a cut, they will be spending 8% more than they were spending, this is just a reduction on the planned increase in spending. We are talking about planned 3.7 Trillion of planned spending, 85 Billion in reduction doesn’t even put a dent in that.
Every family in America has had to cut back to fit their budget and make ends meet, the Government can do this as well.
We are only talking about spending only 8% more instead of 10% more. At the same time, the government is telling us that there is no inflation going on. Give me a break, I buy Fuel for my car and I buy groceries. As I said, both parties are to blame for this.
That’s not correct, John. These cuts are not in relation to projected budget amounts. These cuts take effect mid year.
And they negatively impact our GDP, pushing us closer to the austerity measures that are ruining other countries.
@SICKA-Thank you for the information but I believe the 2% cut in Medicare was already in the works before sequester and would have happened anyway. It was scheduled to be reduced so the funding could go to Obamacare. They have been reducing Medicare for some time now and that is what the hospitals are screaming about. Yes, the rest of what you say is discretionary spending and would be reduced. A lot of it is Obamacare which has not been funded as yet.
@sicka-where did you hear that they were cutting into medicare. Everything I heard was medicare and Social Security are not being touched. The only items being cut are discretionary spending and then only 2.5%. If you know something different please tell me.
Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers would take an across-the-board 2 percent cut. That would come out to roughly $11 billion.
The sequester would also make significant cuts to programs created by the Affordable Care Act, which are not subject to the 2 percent cap.
Grants to help states establish insurance exchanges — new marketplaces for private insurance coverage — would lose $66 million. The law’s prevention and public health fund would lose $76 million.
The Food and Drug Administration would lose $318 million — more than 8 percent of its budget. And the National Institutes of Health would see a cut of more than $2.5 billion. Academics and other advocates for medical research say the NIH cuts would be devastating for medical science.
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/files/budget/debtceilingfaq.pdf
This is NOT as simple as tightening your belt. These cuts are unnecessarily harsh and completely uncalled for. This is yet another manufactured crisis meant to jerk the public around and garner support for the repubs constant refusal to address the real issues facing this country.
Their stated goal is to destroy Obama’s terms in office. They do not care about jobs. They have said so.
How anybody can defend this obstructive behavior is beyond me. This isn’t about a difference in ideology, guys. This is a game.
Thanks happy guy! I found myself getting angry, and you can never get your message across when you’re angry. So I took a break. I’m not going to allow myself to be drug down by those with no other tool at their disposal than deflection and degradation.
@sicka and happy guy-I also am glad you are back sicka. As I said before you put out some excellent post and I have learned from them. However, I must tell both of you that in my opinion you give the teaparty way to much credit. I do not think they have anywhere near the power you think they have. They had their time and although not all of their thoughts were bad they were far enough out of the main stream that they could not hold that power. Just my opinion.
LVS, on one hand I agree with you, but on the other, I fear we can’t ignore them, either. I am all for a two party system, but they have taken this to a new upsetting level that will destroy us all if they don’t learn how to negotiate.
I hope you’re right, I really do.
When I comment on the leeches It’s not about the working poor, elderly or the people now on social security but the growing number of people who have learn how to work the system. Mothers who have child after child to stay on the welfare ranks or perfectly healthy people who just don’t want to work. Making policy after policy to buy votes from this group is just wrong. If you saw the African American council woman from Detroit speak this weak on how since this group voted for Obama he now owes it to them to bail out bankrupt Detroit you just want to puke. Take responsibility for your life. I think if Obama got off rich against poor horse and learned from Clinton or Regan on how to really cross party lines to achieve a balanced budget he could amount to something.
blog, I agree there are some that play the system and I wish there was a way to stop them without hurting the truely needy. I do volunteer work for a local charity and I see them. the ones you wonder why aren’t you working. But I also see that the majority of the people we help truely need the help. I would rather serve a player than to see someone in need go without. I guess that’s just the liberal way I was raised and think.
As far as reaching out to the GOP and teapublicans goes he has many times mostly in his first term and was repeatedly told that they were to busy to meet or had other plans. In order for there to be bipartisanship in congress both sides must want it. I believe by their words and actions that the teapublicans don’t want it.
@ Blog, so true, if you want to see progress, look at Japan. I am also not against SS Medicaid and those that are in true need. Free Obama cell phones are an example, just a small example, if you look at this program alone, you can see there is no regard to spending by this government. This is not a Dem or a Republican deal, all of them put us in this situation in the first place.
This sequester only reduces our increases of Federal spending from 10% to 8%. My family has been able to cut 2% out of our budget, I think the House and the Senate can find a way to do it as well without an end of the world situation.
http://www.1500espn.com/link/comments.php?lp=66_years_later_hiroshima_vs_detroit
You mean the Reagan phones? Because that’s the president who created the program. Once again, don’t bother to look anything up, whatever you do. Just repeat what your favorite right wing blogger thinks over and over and over and over and over…
A bit off topic but….last I checked it still takes 2 to make a baby. And rubbers are still fairly cheap. Why don’t you start your preaching speech with men and tell them not to plant seeds they don’t want to support.
‘do it in a way that doesn’t endanger our economy and endanger jobs,” Obama said’. Well, I believe that Obama has just check-mated himself. His one vote can keep our economy out of danger.
I’m no GWB fan but at least he knew which battles to pick. This Obama picks them all and that is just plain political suicide.
Why the heck has the senate, controlled by the left, not passed a budget in over 4 yrs.? Obama just loves blaming others. He is NO leader.
one word…filibuster
Incompetence, on both sides.
So the president controls the senate. If that is true then he must control the house also. I believe he has no votes in either and poseses no mind control device to force anyone to do their jobs.
You don’t see the Republicans standing in front of the camera crying the end of the world because of cuts that equal 2% of the total 3.7 trillion dollar budget. Just him as he tries to stir up more class warfare. The Republicans understand you can’t keep spending with no cuts. He’s an idiot that will do anything to take more money from the working to give to the deadbeats by playing this robin hood image of taking from the rich and giving to the poor. I don’t think you will see many of his leech nation starting new businesses and creating jobs like the people with money do. Also how do you explain him on camera twice saying he will veto any attempt to alter or stop these cuts but now crying like a baby. It’s all about winning elections by any means.
When he says he will veto he is talking from a point of power, he feels as if he has the support from many people but when he starts crying it’s all their fault it’s because he is losing support and needs to backtrack. I think it was Stupid that said that over the years there have been many sequesters written by both sides. Actually when they were trying to slow down the tax cuts before the election so obama could concentrate on the election the WH slipped in the sequester and since nobody in congress knew what it was they didn’t question it.
maybe the WH didn’t slip the sequester in. The rep. knew it was in the bill and liked it too. Boehner was “pretty Happy” because he got 98% of what he wanted too. The intent of this bill was to make it so painful for our nation not to act. That is what the President is expessing now. The harm that will take place if congress doesn’t act. Both congress and the WH knew the pain this would cause when it was voted on and signed. Obama seems to be the only one who cares what will happen to our country if action isn’t taken. So when he talks about it that isn’t crying…that is telling congress to do their job.
@happy guy-come on now. Obama is using this to play his class warfare scheme. It is really obvious to someone who hasn’t been brainwashed by all the B.S. parading firemen and policemen up there like we are all stupid is crazy. The Federal Government doesn’t pay for them and neither does it pay for teachers. It is all Obama play acting to try to get what he wants.
@blog-OK, I agree with what you are saying here. In my opinion Obama is the worst thing that ever happened to this country. He lies and manipulates everything to try to get his special programs through and to hell with the country. It is all about making us into a socialist country with him. Just my opinion.
LVS come on now. GWB was hands down the worst President we have ever seen. Then combine him with the extreme right wing idiot Dick Cheney and you have a real circus. The way his administration stripped us of our constitutional rights (4th Amendment) has never been matched in the history of the US.
“It is all about making us into a socialist country with him.” If that is true why did the Dow close at over 14,000 yesterday and the S&P 500 at over 1515. Seems to me he is doing a very poor job of trying to “turn us into a socialist nation”.
@happy guy-don’t be mislead by the stock exchange-the only thing holding that up is the Feds (Obama) keeps printing more money and believe me that will come back to bite us big time in the not to distant future. The stock market is not a indicator of what our government is doing. It is a world market now. I stand by what I said. Bush was a do nothing but Obama is a hell of a lot worse.
Happy, not that it matters, I’m right your right. I will not just wit here and listen to you blame everybody else except for where the blame falls, your god. Yesterday I read an article about the history of tjis sequestration and for the life of me I can’t find that link but I will, just for you. It stated that Nabor’s and another white house staff wrote the sequestration under the observation of obama. I will find it for you.
Ok happy, this article is sel explainitory. I always thought the washington post was left wing but this article isn’t.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bob-woodward-obamas-sequester-deal-changer/2013/02/22/c0b65b5e-7ce1-11e2-9a75-dab0201670da_story.html
maybe So what if the President did it or what if the teapublicans did it. It doesn’t matter who purposed it. Congress passed the bill and the President signed it. All parties to sequesrtation did it for the exact same reasons. Now they must deal with it and the only one talking about it is the President. And what he is saying is true. If action isn’t taken it will be devastating to our fragile economy. “The Budget Control Act was due to the fact that brain deficit Teapublicans could only focus on the deficit; and refused to acknowledge or understand the historical empirical evidence which supports the economic theory of deficit spending in a macro global economy. And specifically the result of the only way the Teapublicans could be convinced to avoid an unprecedented U.S. Sovereign default.”
LVS all states do get federal dollars that go to paying for education and emergancy personal. School lunch programs cut. Cutback on college education. USDA inspects our food sorces…that will take such a hit that most if not all inspectors will be gone. TSA means longer lines at airports and fewer behind the scenes people. The US Navy has already stopped the deployment of 1 aircraft carrier to the Gulf region. 800,000 defense jobs cut. This list goes on and on.
I know you and maybe don’t agree with me but these are the truth facts of it. It just doesn’t matter now who’s idea it was. It is now law and it must be dealt with.
@Happy, did you read the whole article? It said most of congress had no idea what a sequestration was so they just passed the bill. It’s like pelosi said, we have to pass it to see whats in it. Sure it’s passed now and is coming up and the president is crying that we need to do something about it. What chaps my a$$ is that it was his idea so why cry about something that HE wanted unless this is a political move to make the Republicans look bad. Only a bully puts others down to make himself look good.
@happy guy-you are correct. It is the law and must be dealt with. So why is Harry Reid on vacation? Also, I doubt it is as bad as you or Obama want to make it sound. It is less than 3% of our total budget for the year, and it is only discretionary spending. Maybe people will get off their a## and get after those jerks we elected and make them do their job. I vote to impeach them all.
There is no morals to this bottom feeder of a president. This is his plan he signed into effect in 2011 and twice said he will veto any attempt to stop or change this. But now he sits in front of the camera crying the end of the world and blaming the Republicans. So what has changed. The Spendocrats under his supreme rule have learned the way to win elections is not to control spending but to take from the working and give to the deadbeats and illegals whose only ambition is to get to the polls and vote so the checks keep rolling in. They should change their party name to the Leech-O-Crats.
blog…”When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the White House, I got 98% of what I wanted. I’m pretty happy.” Said Speaker of the House John Beohner in Aug of 2011 while being interviewed for CBS News. That’s a far cry from blaming the Obama administration for devastating cuts. Blog the hous and senate both passed this bill and the president signed it. In this case it takes 3 to tango.
As for your quote “Take from the working and give to the deadbeats and illegals whose only ambition is to get to the polls and vote so the checks keep rolling in.” They give to the deadbeats all right. They give billions a year to big oil, big banks, and giant corperations who are all showing near record profits. All that big business that mainly supports the GOP. They are the true takers and deadbeats. And you complain about the working poor, the disabled, and the old who despratley needs help to survive. You need to rethink that.
@happy guy-OK Happy. I agree with a lot of what you are saying except Obama was the one who proposed and supported this. He also said he WOULD VETO any legislation that tried to change it or water it down. That is not the republicans saying that, it was Obama. No, I agree with you on your comments about big corporations, business, oil and especially the banks who have gotten away with stealing billions from the tax payers of this country. I also agree about the working poor and certainly the disabled and old. Those two are near and dear to me.