Page 68 - The Sequester News Today

One thing the president might mention in terms of plans to stimulate the economy, bring up infrastructure. presidents often bring it up in the state of the union address and usually makes viewers eyes roll over and for democrats, investment. for republicans, they see dollar signs and spending and i bet well see pushback of republicans on this. >> regarding the sequester, aaron, public opinion obviously against the automatic spending cuts. i believe 700 billion for domestic programs. 500 billion ...

Be unfair to the military and our families. think about this for a second. cutting back on psychological counseling for the members of the military and their family during the remainder of this year when we have this grievous problem of suicides in the military and readjustment when they come home from battle. we cant do that. >> but isnt there always a reason to spend the money in washington? >> no. >> cant you always find a reason not to cut? isnt this the republican argument that at least her...

>> david, sequestration was designed as a budget threat, not as a budget strategy. and i think all of us understand if it goes forward in less than three weeks its going to have a dramatic negative impact on many agencies equally important on the economy. so we need to come together. what the president is proposing for the rest of this year at least is that we deal with the sequester the same we have the first two months, evenly split between revenue and cuts. i think thats a sensible approach. ...

Lurching from crisis to crisis. you know, its so absurd to people outside of washington who have to scratch their heads and say wait a minute. this is the white house that proposed these automatic spending cuts and now they are saying it would be so awful. leon panetta, the defense secretary, saying it would hollow out the military and have grave reactions. this is not how washington is supposed to operate, is it? >> no, its not. and let me explain. when the president proposed the sequester, it ...

In fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off. >> i dont like the sequester, and i think that it is taking a meat aex to the government a meat ax to many of the programs and it will weaken our national defense. >> there yu go. nobody likes it. okay. but the ut cuts amts to $85 million spread out over seven months from the beginning of march to september 30th, the end of the fiscal year of 2013, and according to the white house it would take a 13% out of de...

Counseling for the members of the military and their family during the remainder of this year when we have this grievous problem of suicides in the military and readjustment when they come home from battle. we cant do that. >> but isnt there always a reason to spend the money in washington? >> no. >> cant you always find a reason not to cut? isnt this the republican argument that at least here, if worse comes to worse and the sequester happens, well at least get spending cuts. how else to force ...

Tackle the long-term debt problem because these cuts expire in 10 years time. so you have -- of course, america has to deal with entitlement reform. youve got to spend less on your health care. but this sequester is not the route to doing it. this sequester is killing growth. >> can i ask you a question, mike, about -- you look at the flurry of activity. he has to deal with the budget, and they are moving forward on immigration reform and taking on the gun issue. this is where the outside game m...

Investing in the future. r&d, education, infrastructure. and whats more, it doesnt even tackle the long-term debt problem because these cuts expire in 10 years time. so you have -- of course, america has to deal with entitlement reform. youve got to spend less on your health care. but this sequester is not the route to doing it. this sequester is killing growth. >> can i ask you a question, mike, about -- you look at the flurry of activity. he has to deal with the budget, and they are moving for...

Well that these family structures are critically important to the future of america. in the senate, we have a bipartisan goal of pathway to citizenship. not stopping at the dream act, beginning with the dream act and pushing forward. >> i want to get back to the automatic spending cuts and ask a fundamental question that i think republican critics of this president are asking. do you not concede that there is a spending problem in washington? even when it comes to the 50% cuts out of the sequest...

The politics are on that. plus the sense that the president is feeling, look, i dont have an opposition to trust in that if we move forward on something like that. >> the president is prepared to move. he showed with mr. boehner he is prepared to do deals and to move. but he has to have a republican party thats really willing to dance with him. i know that. now everybody is talking about sequestration and all of the needs for cuts and the rest. but we have a model in the u.k. where they have -- ...