| Boehner Challenges Obama To Clean Up His Sequester Mess |
| Feb-20-2013 |
| Keywords: boehner, op-ed, obama, sequester, cuts, republican, automatic spending, cuts, democrat, tax, spending cuts |
House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, took his argument against President Obama's sequester cuts to the American people, outlining the GOP's case against Obama's demand for tax hikes to offset $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the next decade.
"The president's sequester is the wrong way to reduce the deficit, but it is here to stay until Washington Democrats get serious about cutting spending. The government simply cannot keep delaying the inevitable and spending money it doesn't have."
In his Wall Street Journal op-ed Wednesday, Boehner took to task the president's erroneous claims that Republicans are to blame for the looming sequester spending cuts.
"Having first proposed and demanded the sequester, it would make sense that the president lead the effort to replace it. Unfortunately, he has put forth no detailed plan that can pass Congress, and the Senate-controlled by his Democratic allies-hasn't even voted on a solution, let alone passed one." Boehner also noted, "By contrast, House Republicans have twice passed plans to replace the sequester with common-sense cuts and reforms that protect national security"
The speaker also pointed out that the administration's already raised taxes, not only on top earners, but middle class Americans as well.
"The president got his higher taxes-$600 billion from higher earners, with no spending cuts-at the end of 2012. He also got higher taxes via ObamaCare. Meanwhile, no one should be talking about raising taxes when the government is still paying people to play videogames, giving folks free cellphones, and buying $47,000 cigarette-smoking machines."
Boehner concluded his op-ed with a simple, straight-forward question to President Obama:
"Mr. President, we agree that your sequester is bad policy. What spending are you willing to cut to replace it?"
The "sequester" is the Washington word for the $85 billion in 2013 spending cuts set to hit the economy on March 1, with more than $1 trillion in cuts on tap over the next decade.
You can read Speaker Boehner's op-ed challenge to the President Obama on WSJ.com. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 4:00 PM Email to a friend |
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