RG - What is the "Sequester"? UPDATED

"First of all, the sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed. It will not happen.
The budget that we are talking about is not reducing our military spending. It is maintaining it."
Barack Obama (Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy)

NOTE: Originally published Friday, October 26, 2012
What is the "Sequester".

Barack Obama wanted the 'Debt Ceiling' raised in 2011 so that he could spend more money. Congress and the White House came to an impasse and the idea of "Sequester" or Sequestration was proposed. The "Sequester" is nothing more than automated spending cuts that begin in January 2013 and is already law.

The end result was a Super Committee composed of members from both sides of the aisle, from both chambers, whose job was to make the tough decisions.

In the end, all the committee voted to do was vote on a package of $1.2 trillion dollars in cuts that would go into effect in 2013 - if Congress didn't agree on deficit-reduction package by Nov. 23 of 2012. (Click HERE for article on Obama wants to spend more Money.)

Who proposed the "Sequester"?

Famed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward disputed Obama's statement that the idea was birthed by Republicans in Congress.

"What the president said is not correct," Woodward told Politico. "And it's refuted by the people who work for him."

In his book The Price of Politics, the reporter who gained fame from the Watergate scandal outlined that it was White House Office of Management Director Jack Lew and Legislative Affairs Director Rob Nabors who took the sequestration proposal to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. They also presented it to House Republicans.

Initially, no one thought a deal could be reached to avert hitting the debt ceiling, but when reality started to unfold, the sequestration was the only option left standing.

"The president tells the American people the sequester proposed by his White House 'will not happen,' but he has never offered a plan to prevent it. The president says he's for helping small businesses, but he's pushing a plan that will raise their taxes. The credibility of anything the president says about 2013 is being demolished by the reality of his actions right now, in 2012."
Kevin Smith, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.

UPDATE - February 19, 2013:

Fresh off his weekend golf trip with Tiger Woods, President Obama attacked Republicans this morning for refusing to raise taxes as part of a deal to avert the looming "sequester" cuts -- which his administration championed and he signed into law.

"It was the White House. It was Obama and Jack Lew and Rob Nabors who went to the Democratic Leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, and said, '[the sequester] is the solution.'"
Bob Woodward

UPDATE Obama Super Committee:

Not only was Sequestration Barack Obama's Idea - Barack Obama 'Promised' to Veto ANY attempt by Congress to 'Stop' Sequestration.

President Barack Obama says he will veto any effort to get rid of automatic spending cuts that would take effect in 2013 if Congress can't find other ways of trimming government deficits. Those spending cuts include significant reductions to the Pentagon that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said would be devastating to the military. Obama issued his threat Monday an hour after leaders of Congress' deficit-reduction supercommittee announced that they had failed to reach agreement on cutting the debt. The inability of the committee to meet its deadline means the government is facing about $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts in January 2013. Obama said the threat of those reductions should remain in place to maintain pressure on Congress find a compromise. (Monday, November 21, 2011)

What is the Result of Sequestration?

It should be remembered that Barack Obama and his Administration will decicide where the cuts take place. If 1st Responders are laid off - it was Barack Obama who decided they should be laid off.

The result of the 2011 debt ceiling deal, wast to cut $1 trillion in government spending over the next decade outright and then put responsibility for finding another $1.2 trillion on Congress.

Because Congress failed to agree on the mixture of lower spending and higher taxes to hit that figure, a mechanism in the debt ceiling-raising legislation causes automatic spending decreases to hit the $1.2 trillion figure: about $109 billion in lower government spending every year for the next decade.

1. Hits to defense programs of either 9.4 percent or 10 percent, depending on how they receive their appropriations from Congress ($55 billion).
2. Payments to Medicare providers will be reduced by 2 percent ($11 billion).
3. Cuts to non-defense spending (like elementary and secondary education or rehabilitation services and disability research) will be cut at either 8.2 percent or 7.6 percent (totaling $43 billion).

Barack Obama's long history of accusing others of lying.

Barack Obama has in all probability accused others about lying about his decisions and actions his entire life. Since Barack Obama entered politics most of those are well documented, including his position on the BAIPA (Born Alive Infant Protection Act) which he tried to block in Illinois and then accused others of lying about his actions - Obama later recanted and through a spokesperson admitting his accusers were not lying, his stalwart defense of Partial Birth Abortion etc.

Now Barack Obama is accusing Congress and Republicans for Sequestration, when the idea was proposed by his administration and saying Mitt Romney and others are lying - Mr. President YOU are the one who is lying!

RG (Retired Geek from VA)

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