Page 3 - The Sequester News Today

All this inside politics. im fining it hard to follow here. didnt mitch mcconnell vote no on this budget and yet that helps him? >> yeah. i think it -- everyone expected him to vote no, and he did. it does help him because he is facing a primary challenger. he has to really -- the worst of all worlds, primary challenge and he has a general election challenge, where other republican senators, like ma mar alexander, that cochran, once they get by the primary theyre going to win re-election. mcconn...

In motion. that was the theory. would it hold? >> do you actually see anything changing until we do hit some kind of government collapse? >> i hope not. >> january 31st, butts county, georgia. >> i believe in the constitution as our founding fathers meant it. >> reporter: thats congressman paul brown. president obama had republicans like him in mind when he proposed the sequester back in 2011. >> if we went back to the original intent of the constitution, we wouldnt have a debt ceiling problem. ...

The american people that obamacare wasnt working, i think the political pressure on the president would have been considerable. now, would he have somehow needed some sort of face-saving retreat about, well, this is not repealing it, its a delay till we get our act together? sure. but i think that could potentially have been achievable. if we had been united. >> reporter: in fact, a fox news poll taken at the time found a sizable minority of americans actually did want to defund the law and a ma...

On an unwilling washington. >> reporter: the deal was this -- if republicans and democrats could not cut $1.2 trillion out of the growth of spending over ten years, automatic cuts would kick in. half would come from domestic spending, half from defense. >> were not doing it. >> reporter: thats why brown was torn over the sequester last winter. he desperately wants to downsize the government. except for the pentagon. >> we need to make targeted cuts, but we need to have a strong national defense....

Bad idea. >> true. but they disagree on how to avoid them. republicans want entitlement reform. the president asks for higher taxes, and new spending programs. >> im announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs. use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an energy security trust. put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs. make high quality preschool available to every single child in america. redesign americas high schools so they better equip graduat...

Unwilling washington. >> the deal was this: if republicans and democrats could not cut $1.2 trillion out of the growth of spending over ten years, automatic cuts would kick in. half would come from domestic spending. half from defense. thats why brown was torn over the sequester last winter. he desperately wants to downsize the government, except for the pentagon. >> we need to make targeting cuts, but we need to have a strong national defense. we need to spend more money on the military. >> the...

Of changes inside the republican party. where the automatic reflex of being pro-defense has been at least overlaid with an equally important impulse toward smaller government. >> it would take months for that x-ray image to fully develop. >> i think both parties have a sense that this would be a negative event for the economy. >> remember maryland congressman john delaney? well on february 12th, he headed to his first state of the union address. >> i dont think a sequester is going to happen. >>...

Budget deal in washington as we hear growing calls for republicans to reject it. marc thiessen is a former speech writer for george bush and a fellow at the american enterprise institute. you have an interesting take suggesting that the republicans on capitol hill have a case of ptsd or post traumatic stress disorder. what do you mean? >> exactly. since barack obama took office the republicans have basically -- hes run the table over the republicans from this stimulus to obamacare to the fiscal ...

That was the theory. would it hold? >> -- actually see anything changing until we do hit the government collapsing? >> i hope not. >> january 31st, bucks county, georgia. >> i believe in the constitution as our founding fathers made it. >> thats congressman paul brown. president obama had republicans like him in mind when he proposed the sequester. back in 2011. >> if we went back to the original intent of the constitution we wouldnt have a debt ceiling problem. >> people need to remember what t...

Listen, its made the case to the american people that obamacare wasnt working. i think the political pressure on the president would have been considerable. now, would he have somehow needed some sort of face saving retreat about, well, this is not repealing it, its a delay until we get our act together? sure. but i think that could potentially have been achievable. if we had been united. >> in fact, a fax news poll taken at the time found a sizable minority of americans actually did want to def...