Obama requesting short-term budget delay

President Barack Obama will announce on Tuesday afternoon a request for a short-term budget package to avoid automatic cuts known as the sequester.

A White House official said given that Congress appears unlikely to pass a balanced budget by the March 1 deadline, the president will ask Congress to pass a spending cut and tax reform package that would last a few months. The official described a sequester as "economically harmful."

Also from the official: "President Obama will deliver a statement at the White House at 1:15 p.m. on the need for Congress to act to reduce the deficit in a balanced way and avoid the deep, indiscriminate cuts to domestic and defense programs slated to take effect in just over three weeks. Uncertainty around the sequester is already having a negative impact on our economic growth, and if it was to take effect it would cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs and have devastating impacts on our economy."

The White House has repeatedly sidestepped questions regarding how the president would respond to a sequester, saying it was never meant to be put into practice. The administration has blamed Republicans for the continued discussion.

"It's disheartening ... to see Republican leaders say, 'I've got sequester in my back pocket,'" White House press secretary Jay Carney said during a briefing last Wednesday. "It's not a game. It's the American economy."

After news of the president's plan was made public, House Speaker John Boehner released a statement defending his party and blaming Obama:

?President Obama first proposed the sequester and insisted it become law. Republicans have twice voted to replace these arbitrary cuts with common-sense cuts and reforms that protect our national defense. We believe there is a better way to reduce the deficit, but Americans do not support sacrificing real spending cuts for more tax hikes. The president?s sequester should be replaced with spending cuts and reforms that will start us on the path to balancing the budget in 10 years.?

Other Republicans blamed the president for failing to work with Congress.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, for instance, issued a statement on Tuesday morning criticizing the president for failing to send his budget to Congress before the Feb. 4 deadline.

"The president has had five opportunities to do it, and he has missed the deadline four of the last five times. For baseball fans, that is a .200 batting average," McCarthy said.

The Senate has not passed a budget resolution since 2009, instead passing short-term fixes to keep the economy running.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-request-short-term-budget-delay-154259483--politics.html

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