Page 5 - Silly Sequester News Today

And later, insights and analysis from the roundtable. the politics of the budget showdown and some other debates this week. the future of the voting rights act and whether working from home is still ok. from nbc news in washington, the worlds longest-running television program, this is "meet the press." good sunday morning. so sequester is in effect. but the impact have yet to be felt. one thing is clear, frustration with washington has never been higher and both sides are still dug in on ho...

President was warning of the meat cleaver approach, its going to jeopardize our military readiness, that this was really going to hurt people who would lose their jobs. and then on friday, he seemed to change his tone. this is what he said. >> this is not going to be an apocalypse, i think, as some people said. its just dumb. and its going to hurt. >> did the president exaggerate the case to try to win enough political pressure on republicans that he didnt get in the end? >> no, not at all. you ...

Using revenue derived from tax reform closing deductions to actually pay down the deficit? >> im going to say it one more time. the president got his tax hikes on january 1st. the issue here is spending. spending is out of control. there are smarter ways to cut spending than the silly sequester that the president demanded. >> joining me now for strategy talk is former vermont governor, dnc chairman howard dean and former rnc chairman and msnbc analyst michael steele. gentlemen, good to see you b...

Third bill before the senate gets off their ass and begins to do something. >> what did you mean by that? and is that appropriate for the speaker of the house to speak that way? >> listen, i speak english. and the fact is, the house has done its work. we have this sequester because the president demanded it. and because senate democrats have refused to act. >> 174 of your members in the house voted to support it at your urging. you both agreed to do this. >> the president demanded it at the 11th...

Spending mechanism that would have the type of harmful impacts on defense and on education and research. and the idea -- and this is the critical part. the idea was not that these would go into effect but that people of good faith would come back and compromise. and we know thats important. republicans arent getting a win by letting the sequester go into effect. they want more funding for border security. they say they want more funding for defense. the speaker says he wants more on long-term en...

In the white houses view, there will not be a government shutdown in several weeks. this fight will extend now to a budget fight in the fall. is that a fair thing to say? >> what is fair is that if republicans stay with their part of the deal, meaning that they put forward a continuing resolution thats reasonable, not political, stays at the level we agreed to, which is $1.043 trillion -- >> are you committed to not shutting down the government? >> if they agree to that, which they suggested the...

Entitlements and revenue reform. >> but that hasnt happened. >> that simpson-bowles called for and others. >> but that hasnt happened? >> and why hasnt it happened, david? >> i think you made your case about that. in the back and forth, you found yourself in a feud with bob woodward of "the washington post" about some of these issues. and part of that exchange in an otherwise cordial email included this. this is an email from you to bob woodward. i do truly believe you should rethink your commen...

The smarter way would be to actually move a bill that deals with the long-term spending problem. you cant continue to spend money that you dont have. >> is this going to hurt the economy? will it hurt economic recovery? >> i dont know whether its going to hurt the economy or not. i dont think anyone quite understands how the sequester is really going to work. >> is the president exaggerating when he and his cabinet lay out the consequences? >> well, if you look at the fact that they claimed all ...

Dangerous, and it would, quote, threaten u.s. national security. were you exaggerating? >> i am concerned about its impact on our economy and its impact on our military. listen, weve known about this problem for 16 months. weve known the sequester was coming. thats why the house last year acted twice. why didnt the senate democrats act? where was the presidents plan? why didnt they pass something? and here we are at the -- beyond the 11th hour, looking at each other. without having fixed it. >> ...

Been able to come to an agreement. but the house did its work to avoid this sequester, to avoid these random and automatic spending cuts. the fact is, the president and senate democrats have done nothing to pass a bill to avert this and deal honestly with the spending problem the country has. >> just a couple of quick items away from this fight if i can. on gun control, you know, you memorably stood up and applauded when the president recognized gun victims including gabby giffords at the state ...