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The idea for the automatic cuts were proposed by then chief of staff Jack Lew and another top aide in 2011 and "personally approved" by Obama himself, writes Woodward. Want specifics? Lew presented it to Harry Reid at 2:30pm July 27 of that year, he adds.
At times over the last year, President Obama and Lew have flat-out said the sequester was Congress' idea, though White House spokesman Jay Carney finally acknowledged "sequester paternity" this week. It matters because "months of White House dissembling" on the issue made relations with congressional Republicans even worse, writes Woodward. He also says the president agreed to no new taxes in the final sequester deal, but now he's "moving the goal posts" by calling for both spending cuts and new revenue. "His call for a balanced approach is reasonable .. but that was not the deal he made," writes Woodward
Originally posted by SG-17
The Republicans (or more focused, John Boehner's) complete unwillingness to compromise with the Democrats in Congress and the President on the Sequester will destroy any and all economic recovery that the nation has made during the past 5 years and possibly throw the nation into a second Great Depression.
Originally posted by macman
reply to post by SG-17
The statement needs to address ALL of those in Govt. ALL in Congress, ALL in the Senate and the Tyrant 0bama.
ALL of them!!!!!!
They are doing this all because they want to destroy the Democrats in every way possible even though the American people recognize that the Sequester is the fault of the Republicans.
The president and Lew had this wrong. My extensive reporting for my book “The Price of Politics” shows that the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors —probably the foremost experts on budget issues in the senior ranks of the federal government.
Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved.
The House of Representatives, in the last session of Congress, passed two bills to replace the sequester – and now it’s time for the Senate to get “off their ass” and do likewise, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters on Tuesday.
“We have moved a bill in the House twice,” Boehner said. “We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something.”
Boehner said President Barack Obama is not “focused on trying to find a solution” to the automatic, indiscriminate spending reductions that will begin to take effect on Friday.
“The president has been traveling all over the country and today going down to Newport News, in order to use our military men and women as a prop in yet another campaign rally to support his tax hikes,” Boehner said. “Now the American people know, the president gets more money they’re just going to spend it. The fact is that he’s gotten his tax hikes.”
“It’s time to focus on the real problem here in Washington and that is spending,” he said. “The President has known for 16 months that this sequester was looming out there when the super committee failed to come to an agreement.”
“And so for 16 months the President’s been traveling all over the country holding rallies instead of sitting down with Senate leaders in order to try to forge an agreement over there in order to move a bill,” Boehner said. “We have moved a bill in the House twice.”
Look out! If I don't get my way, this country is going to be overrun with Illegal Immigrants.