White House Sequester Moves Puzzle Allies

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http://www.buzzfeed.com/katenocera/white-house-sequester-moves-puzzle-allies



It's a bad vote and almost all of us voted for it because we don't want people hurt or inconvenience at the airport. But the precedent is that you are identifying priorities: 'I don't want passengers inconvenienced' is to some extent a greater priority than Pell grants, Meals on Wheels, Head Start," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, who voted for the fix. "It's a precedent that speaks more to the priorities of Congress and the Administration in terms of who is getting hurt by the sequester."

This week was not the first time Democrats on the Hill have been bewildered by White House moves on the sequester. A month ago, while all the talk about sequestration was about the canceled White House tours — another fight Republicans viewed as a triumph — a top Democratic Senate aide joked, "Have they been messaging on the sequester?"

"I like to think they have some master plan they just haven't told us about yet," one House Democratic aide told BuzzFeed Friday.
This week, while the White House's dire sequestration predictions appeared finally to be coming true, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Obama was open to legislation that only solved the flight delays caused by the budget cuts. While he also said the plan was not the White House preference, Carney's signal that the White House was ready to go for the plan to fix flight delays caused faces to hit palms on Capitol Hill.