GOP approach to sequester jumps shark

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/02/14/gop-approach-to-sequester-jumps-shark/


GOP approach to sequester jumps shark

Posted by Greg Sargent on February 14, 2013 at 3:54 pm


John Boehner spoke to reporters today, and the main news coming out of his remarks is that he called on Senate Democrats to take the lead in passing Obama’s agenda. But buried in The Hill’s account of his remarks is something more interesting — something that really makes it clear that the GOP approach to the sequester is so deeply unserious that no deal looks even remotely possible.

Boehner told reporters that the Senate would have to go first in coming up with a plan to avert the sequester. Then he added:

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told my Republican colleagues at our retreat,” Boehner said. “The sequester will be in effect until there are cuts and reforms that put us on a path to balance the budget in the next 10 years.”

So, Boehner says House Republicans are not only willing to let the sequester hit, but that the only acceptable replacement for it will be a plan that wipes away the deficit in 10 years — all without revenues.

Let’s pause to consider what this means. Getting rid of the deficit in 10 years with no new revenues would require extraordinarily deep cuts to the federal government. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently ran the numbers and concluded it would require across the board cuts totaling anywhere from one-sixth to one-third of the government, depending on whether defense and/or entitlements are included. Boehner is saying that it’s either this or the sequester remains in effect.

snip//

So here are the politics of this in a nutshell. Democrats want the sequester to be averted through a mix of roughly equivalent concessions by both sides. But Republicans are so eager to avoid raising even a penny of new revenues from the rich and corporations that they would sooner present this as a choice between the sequester — which they themselves say will gut defense and tank the economy — and downsizing the government by anywhere from one sixth to one third. The argument here is supposed to be that Senate Dems will have to agree to something that from their point of view is significantly worse than the sequester — balancing the budget in 10 years with no new revenues — or we’re stuck with the sequester.

I don’t know what it will take to get folks to acknowledge just how profound the imbalance between the two parties’ handling of the sequester has become. If this doesn’t demonstrate it clearly enough, than nothing will.

[msongs]

1. cut all benefits and services rendered to congressional districts electing republicans & bingo! nt

[Bandit]

4. Congress is in charge of all money matters

Congress is controlled by Republicans....I know Democrats have a majority in the senate but Republicans seem to control it anyway... Obama can do nothing.....

[elleng]

2. b'sis, the thought was that no one in their right mind would DARE

let this happen. Problem: The basic assumption, that repugs are in their right minds, or really care a s*** about anything but their jobs. Fact: our government is BROKEN.

[newfie11]

3. The repugs want us to become Greece

They are insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!