President Obama placed blame for the failed “sequester” negotiations at the feet of Republicans on Friday — an assertion that didn’t sit well with Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
In a statement provided by the Weekly Standard, Mr. Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, faults the White House’s “astonishing elitism” for the imminent spending cuts, citing the president’s recent golf outing with Tiger Woods as example of government waste and ineffectiveness:
“They have no plan to make our government leaner and more efficient. The President had 18 months to develop reforms to improve the government, but instead he announced furloughs of federal workers as a political cudgel. Yet, his golf weekend at the yacht club with Tiger Woods cost taxpayers over a million dollars — enough money to save 341 federal workers from furlough … These workers know firsthand how much waste and inefficiency exists in the government. Our Budget Committee office will look for a way to solicit federal employees to send suggestions for how to save money in their departments, agencies, and divisions. What is better? To furlough someone or to empower them to make their office more efficient?”
The president told reporters at the White House on Friday that Republicans are responsible for any economic fallout from the $85 billion in spending cuts that take effect at midnight.
“They’ve allowed these cuts to happen because they refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit,” Mr. Obama said.
