In a predictable move, president Obama said today that he would veto all spending bills currently being considered by Congress unless there is an overall agreement on the budget to end sequestration. In simplest terms, what Obama is doing is once again demanding that all the sequestration cuts remain in place without modifiction. Obama knows that there is unlikely to be an overall agreement between the Republicans in the House who want to keep the current projected spending levels and Democrats in the Senate who want to increase spending to 9 percent about the spending levels from before the sequestration cuts.
The Republican spending bills under consideration in the House would move government spending to areas deemed more important like the Defense Department which has been hit with the largest cuts. It would also impose cuts in spending on items like foreign aid and some domestic programs that have been shown to be unworkable. That is what Obama now threatens to veto.
Strangely, this strategy from Obama is exactly the one he used all along to deal with the sequestration. Obama refused to allow flexibility in spending and then insisted that the lack of flexibility required the end of White House tours, the cutting of air traffic controllers and the like. The public rejected Obama's position and basically ignored sequestration. Obama, however, never changes positions like this one once he takes them. He is just sticking to a failed policy.
One would have hoped that the ongoing scandals would move Obama towards trying to actually accomplish something to take attention away from his other troubles. But.......no such luck!
The Republican spending bills under consideration in the House would move government spending to areas deemed more important like the Defense Department which has been hit with the largest cuts. It would also impose cuts in spending on items like foreign aid and some domestic programs that have been shown to be unworkable. That is what Obama now threatens to veto.
Strangely, this strategy from Obama is exactly the one he used all along to deal with the sequestration. Obama refused to allow flexibility in spending and then insisted that the lack of flexibility required the end of White House tours, the cutting of air traffic controllers and the like. The public rejected Obama's position and basically ignored sequestration. Obama, however, never changes positions like this one once he takes them. He is just sticking to a failed policy.
One would have hoped that the ongoing scandals would move Obama towards trying to actually accomplish something to take attention away from his other troubles. But.......no such luck!
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