Sequester who is to blame

The House's top Republican said no one in Washington has worked harder to reach a deal and charged that the President and Senate Democrats "have done nothing to pass a plan" to avert sequester. While admitting paternity for the sequester framework, the White House disagreed with Boehner's charges. One of President Obama's top economic advisers Gene Sperling said this morning that the president wanted to reach a balanced long-term agreement to avoid sequester, but "it was the Speaker who walked away," from negotiations.

Watch the entire program on our website to hear more from Sperling about his public spat this week with Washington Post Associate Editor Bob Woodward Sperling described it as "cordial Unlike the Senate, the House only needed a simple majority to pass the legislation, which would have stopped cuts to defense and instead cut funding for social programs, such as food stamps. Democratic Rep. The House passed a similar bill along party lines in May Those bills died when the th Congress ended on Jan.

Next Story Seniors and Video Games. As stupid as the sequester is, I hope it causes all sorts of distortions. I want Obama to take every step possible to make it as painful as possible. I think the President will do just that. His motivation will be to get public support to swing further from the Republicans. Not much of a legacy. When it downgraded the USA it made the reasoning behind the decision clear. It was not a reflection of the inherent strength of the USA, the reason was the inability of D.

On that basis, I thought the downgrade was justified. Based on what is about to unfold, another notch downward would also be justified. There are now 26 days before the government is forced to shut down. Either a budget is passed by Congress or a Continuing Resolution is required.

And today, the White House released a fact sheet arguing that the president's call for a balanced package "cannot in even the slightest way be considered a change of policy, a change of expectations, or moving the goalposts. Even Woodward's own book, the White House pointed out, included a passage documenting as much. And despite the crowing from Republicans about the White House's culpability in the mess that sequester has become, Woodward himself does not absolve the GOP of blame.

The takeaway: Everybody's hands are dirty.