Obama, GOP battle over cuts: ‘Common sense’ or ‘meat-cleaver’?

Republican leaders pushed back against new pressure from President Obama that they must compromise to avert looming budget cuts, countering that Democrats must accept serious reforms to entitlement programs to get a deal through Congress.

GOP House Speaker John A. Boehner said Tuesday the House has twice passed a plan to replace the so-called sequester with “common sense cuts,” but Mr. Obama has so far been unwilling to find enough savings from overhauling Medicare and Social Security. The president, he said, is relying too heavily on plans to increase taxes again.

SEE RELATED: Pink slips being printed as Congress vacations, defense industry likely to cut thousands of jobs

“Just last month, the president got his higher taxes on the wealthy, and he’s already back for more,” Ohio’s Mr. Boehner said in a statement. The Democrats’ “new-found concern about the president’s sequester is appreciated, but words alone won’t avert it.”

With Congress out of town this week and Mr. Obama back in Washington after a weekend golf vacation in Florida, the president stepped before the cameras Tuesday to urge congressional Republicans to avoid the $85 billion in so-called sequester spending cuts set to kick in March 1.

Mr. Obama warned about the dire consequences of failing to avert the cuts in front of 17 uniformed firefighters and law enforcement officers who could lose their jobs.

The sequester, he said, “won’t help the economy, won’t create jobs, and will mean hardship for a whole lot of people” and that if Congress allows the “meat-cleaver” cuts to take effect, military readiness will be hampered and government services reduced.

He also warned that thousands of teachers would be laid off and that funding would be cut for the FBI and other emergency responders.

“This is not an abstraction,” he said. “People will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again.”

SEE RELATED: McDonnell urges Obama to work with Hill to avert sequesters

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky criticized Mr. Obama for holding a “campaign-style” event rather than finding wasteful programs to eliminate, such as spending on green-energy programs.

“The president says that the door is open, but he’s spent more time in 2013 with Tiger Woods than with all congressional Republicans,” tweeted Doug Heye, a spokesman for House Majority leader Eric Cantor. He was referring to Mr. Obama’s decision to spend the weekend golfing with Mr. Woods and others in Florida.

The Republicans also pointed out that it was Mr. Obama who first suggested the sequester cuts as a means to force lawmakers to agree to more a more measured deficit-reduction plan.

White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed any notion that the White House has failed to reach out to Republicans, although he would not say whether officials were talking to them on a regular basis.

“The problem here isn’t a lack of meetings around the table in the Roosevelt Room or the Cabinet room,” he said.

Mr. Obama has insisted on a balanced plan that closes loopholes for wealthy Americans and corporations while overhauling entitlement program.

“I’ve offered a balanced approach to deficit reduction,” he said. “I’m willing to cut more spending that we don’t need, get rid of programs that aren’t working. I’ve laid out specific reforms to our entitlement programs.”

Story Continues →

© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.