In August of 2011, the GOP held the nation’s full faith and credit hostage and demanded devastating cuts that hurt middle class families. We would not be facing this sequester crisis if Republicans had not forced it through.
Working Americans can’t afford to lurch from fiscal crisis to fiscal crisis. Washington’s self-inflicted economic wounds are already hurting the economy and slowing our recovery.
There is a better way forward. The Congressional Progressive Caucus recently introduced The Balancing Act, which cancels the sequester cuts, raises revenue by closing unfair tax loopholes, and creates more than 1 million jobs all over the country.
Republicans are talking out of both sides of their mouth, blaming President Obama for a problem they created even while they look forward to sequester going into effect:
Rep. Mike Pompeo: “The sequester is here, it’s time, we’ve got to get these spending reductions in place…It’s going to be a home run. We’re doing what the American people asked the United States House of Representatives to do in 2010 when I came here. We’re reducing the size and scope of the federal government. I think the American people will have tremendous respect. I think the markets will respond very positively when we, for the first time, say we have a spending reduction plan and we’re actually going to follow through on it. So I’m very optimistic that on March 2 we’ll all wake up and America will have tremendous respect for what its House of Representatives led and what its federal government was able to accomplish.” [POLITICO, 2/13]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “It’s pretty clear to me that the sequester is going to go into effect …Read my lips: I’m not interested in an 11th-hour negotiation.” [Washington Post, 2/12]
Rep. Tom Cole: “We would rather see those cuts happen … I can assure you that there will not be a political blink on this. These cuts will occur.” [U.S. News and World Report, 2/6].
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland: “I think the sequester happens…. If this is the only way we can cut spending, this is what we gotta do.” [POLITICO, 2/6]
Rep. John Shimkus: “Sequestration is coming. It's coming. We've got to get spending cuts. ... No new revenue. It's all about spending.” [POLITICO, 2/5]
Sen. Tom Coburn: “I think sequester’s going to happen. … I think people want it to happen.” [New York Times, 2/1]
Sen. Mike Johanns: “I just have a feeling the sequester’s going to happen. …I just think there’s so much concern about the debt and spending that it overrides most issues these days.” [CQ, 2/1]
Sen. Kelly Ayotte: “[Sequestration] looks like . . . where we’re headed.” [CQ, 2/1]
Sen. John Cornyn: “[The sequester] is the only cuts we’ve got right now.” [Washington Post, 1/30]
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan: “I think the sequester is going to happen.” [Meet the Press, 1/27]
