Who's responsible for "sequestration"? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Bob Woodward, the Washington Post editor with arguably the deepest inside connections in the White House published an article Friday (2-22-13) that in effect calls Barack Obama a liar. The issue is who is responsible for "sequester."

    Obama has repeatedly blamed "Republicans" and Congress. But the truth is that the idea and more importantly the movement to adopt sequestration came from the White House and it was specifically approved by Obama himself.

    Thus, as we approach the automatic imposition of sequester it is important to remember how it came to be. And it came to be as a result of Barack Obama. He is responsible, because he could have stopped it dead in its tracks had he wanted to.

    The other thing that is important to remember is that the "sequester" does NOT cut Federal spending. What it does is cut the rate of INCREASE in future spending. And then it only cuts what in reality amounts to a drop in the bucket.

    Thus, Obama is caught in yet another series of lies. He has been campaigning this week crying Chicken Little about all the horrible things the claims will happen if they don't spend as much more than was planned. None of that is true. Or more precisely, none of those things need be true if they would simply reduce the increases where they would have the least/no practical impact.

    The real "deadline" for addressing this issue comes not next Friday, when sequester kicks in, but rather on March 27. That is the date that the current continuing budget resolution ends and Congress must either extend it or adopt a new budget. That is where "crunch time" will come.

    The reason the U. S. Senate has not adopted a budget since Obama took office is that it has been avoiding the issues involved in adopting a formal budget--the issue of how much of a deficit to run in that budget.

    What the Senate has been doing, supported by Obama in his not submitting a proposed budget to Congress that was a practical recommendation, is that the continuing resolution gimmick simply continues the huge deficit spending that the stimulus bills created. The simple fact is that Federal spending has increased more since Obama took office than it has in any time in American history.

    So the real issue here is spending. And more specifically, how much more is the Federal government going to spend than it takes in in revenue. That question will be answer on March 27.

    Our prediction is: Sequestration will kick in next Friday because Obama wants sequestration. If the American public reacts negatively, which we predict they will not, the Obama will use the three weeks before March 27 to try to pressure Congress to adopt yet another continuing resolution to continue the huge spending that the Federal government has been doing--with Republican consent. That is exactly what we predict will happen. Deficit spending will continue. It will happen simply because Obama will browbeat the Republican leadership in the House into continuing to spend more than we take in.

    And the ultimate blame for this debacle rests on the Republican leadership in the House. And the solution or ultimate blame will shift to the American people when they vote in November 2014. If they elect a Democrat Senate majority nothing will change. We will continue with huge deficits until the house of cards collapses. On the other hand, if the people of five or six states--including North Carolina--elect a Republican to replace their current Democrat senator there will be a change. Whether it will be enough of a change remains to be seen. But if that happens we will then spend two years watching Obama veto or threaten to veto Republican efforts to reduce deficit spending and the ultimate decision will be made by the American people again in November of 2016...if we make it until then.

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