John Boehner: Sequester Is Product Of Obama's 'Failed Leadership'

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Tuesday evening, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) blamed President Obama for the nearly $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts set to go into effect next month, labeling the looming cuts as “the president’s sequester.”

“Most Americans are just hearing about this Washington creation for the first time: the sequester,” Boehner writes. “What they might not realize from Mr. Obama’s statements is that it is a product of the president’s own failed leadership.”

Boehner continues, “There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much — we should be cutting even more — but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous way to do it.”

The sequester stems from the Budget Control Act of 2011, which mandated the cuts if a congressional “super committee” failed to reach an agreement on how to reduce the deficit. In November 2011, the bipartisan group announced it hadn’t reached a deal, meaning the cuts to defense and domestic spending would go into effect in January 2013. The sequester was later delayed to begin March 1 as part of the “fiscal cliff” negotiations.

In the op-ed, Boehner slams the president for not offering a “detailed plan that can pass Congress.”

“As the president’s outrage about the sequester grows in coming days, Republicans have a simple response: Mr. President, we agree that your sequester is bad policy,” Boehner writes. “What spending are you willing to cut to replace it?”

Boehner’s latest comments continue the back-and-forth blame game between Republicans and Democrats over the quickly approaching cuts.

Earlier Tuesday, Obama pushed Congress to pass his plan to offset the cuts, which includes tax increases for the wealthy as well as spending cuts.

“Republicans in Congress face a simple choice,” Obama said. “Are they willing to compromise to protect vital investments in education and health care and national security and all the jobs that depend on them? Or would they rather put hundreds of thousands of jobs and our entire economy at risk just to protect a few special interest tax loopholes that benefit only the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations?”

In a statement, Boehner pushed back on the president’s speech.

“Just last month, the president got his higher taxes on the wealthy, and he’s already back for more,” the House Speaker said.

http://www.huffingtonposm/2013/02/20…21608.html