For my sanity and yours, I rarely get into the silliest corners of politics, but this conservative talking point that the word “sequester” must actually be called “Obama’s sequester,” like they had nothing to do with it, is really beyond the pale. I get that both sides are trying to position themselves to not get blamed for this totally preventable, self-inflicted wound, but here are some facts that belie this ridiculous Republican disowning of a policy they supported.
–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…”
–Then there’s the Power Point slide that the Daily Beast put up yesterday from Speaker Boehner in July of 2011 advertising the sequester as a selling point to his fellow R’s: “[The bill] sets up a new sequestration process to cut spending across-the-board…”
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.
(Hat tip: JM)
“We—they—should stop acting like truculent kids on the playground, get to work, and defuse their latest fiscal time bomb.”
Why is Obama flying around campaign style instead of offering concrete solutions? He seems to have ramped up the us versus them rhetoric post-election.
Pablo, the ONLY way President Obama can accomplish anything with these Do-Nothing Republicans is to go directly to the people and have them flood the phone lines so the Repugs hear directly from their constituents.
Our democrat party, senate and President pushed the sequester through, WHY?
The president has actually offerred solutions, just not the ones that Repubs want but aren’t willing to put into real numbers.
As far as ramping-up the rhetoric, he’s got a heck of a lot more ramping up to do to even approach the level of rhetoric that Repubs have been at since Inaugeration Day 2009.
Bernstein SLAM!!!
I mean, I’m pretty sure the sequester was only created to satisfy Boehner’s $1 of cuts to $1 of debt ceiling increase rule so…Boehner’s sequester it is
Casual voters “know” what the GOP says all the time: spending cuts come from the GOP, not the Dems. GOP claims to the contrary will be perceived as lies. Only a part of the GOP base will be pleased to “share the pain” of the budget cuts.
Saying this is “the Obama sequester” and saying the Republicans had nothing to do with it are two different statements. The first is true; the second is not. What you say about the Republicans’ complicity is all true. It is also true that Obama and his then chief of staff and deputy chief of staff conceived it, enlisted Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats in it, and then, yes, the House Republicans also passed it. When the Republicans said the cuts could be made more rationally, Obama said he’d veto any changes. Are both parties complicit? Yes. But Obama conceived it, sold it, and defended it with a threatened veto. Sensible Democrats voted for components of the Reagan recovery, but it remained the Reagan recovery. And this is the Obama sequester, even though he is conning the gullible by campaigning against his own idea.
The sequester was always a stupid idea, but it was necessary at the time to distract the Republicans from the truly catastrophic course they were pushing the country on in the summer of 2011. Even then, it was designed to be avoided, not implemented.
If Obama created it then why are Repugs lieing about it?
Most of us would appreciate sincerity and the truth from public officials, so we don’t need a decoder ring to decide if a proposal is to offset another proposal of a tax hike that should be matched by a spending cut over a ten-year-period, but scored by the C.B.O. without the inclusion of tax cuts after the first 32 months. Yikes!
Get The Facts
“Obama’s Sequester?” Pure Nonsense | Jared Bernstein | On the …
http://www.jaredbernsteinblog.com/obamas-sequester-pure-nonsense/- View by Ixquick Proxy- Highlight
2 days ago … In the Senate, 28 Rs voted for it and 19 against, while D’s supported it 45-6. … the cuts could be made more rationally, Obama said he’d veto any changes. … But Obama conceived it, sold it, and defended it with a threatened veto. … need a decoder ring to decide if a proposal is