from Gary Bauer’s Campaign for Working Families End of Day Report 2-26-13
In yesterday’s report I warned that in spite of the sequester’s miniscule size compared to the overall federal budget, Barack Obama is determined to make the cuts as painful as possible. But don’t take my word for it. Over the weekend, the Washington Post ran a story headlined, “The Big Sequester Gamble: How Badly Will The Cuts Hurt?”
The article argued that defenders of Big Government need the sequester to be painful in order to convince the American people that the solution is higher taxes, more spending and even bigger government. “The worst-case scenario for us is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens,” one liberal lobbyist confessed to the Post.
That is why Barack Obama is telling us just how awful these cuts will be. Kids will be kicked out of school. Flights will be delayed. Workers will be furloughed and their paychecks will be cut. Today the president went to Newport News, Virginia, to warn that the Navy might have to cancel repairs to 11 ships and lay off civilian workers.
It doesn’t have to be this way. But that is exactly how Obama wants it to be! The cynicism of this White House and its allies is breathtaking. They are willing to punish hard-working, taxpaying citizens of this country in order to advance their far-left, big government agenda.
Will Obama’s Cynicism Prevail?
. . .
When the sequester was negotiated, Obama demanded that some areas of the budget — such as major entitlement programs — be off limits. As a result, even though the sequester only amounts to 2.5% of total spending, the parts of the budget that are getting hit are taking a bigger hit proportionally than just 2.5%. Some discretionary programs are taking a 5% cut while some Defense programs are taking a 7% cut.
But rather than cutting salaries, agency executives should be looking for fraud, waste, and other unnecessary spending. Any department head who can’t find five or six percent in waste, fraud, duplication, etc., should be fired!
. . .
Do I think Republicans in Congress could be doing a better job? Yes. I pointed out yesterday there should have been more oversight hearings. Perhaps they should be raising money to run ads to explain this.
But there is no way for Republicans to explain it without the cooperation of the media. Speaker Boehner and House leaders held a press conference yesterday and presented a lot of great information. It got about 30 seconds of coverage on the evening news.
This is a very frustrating time in Washington, my friends. But we cannot give up. The skirmish over sequestration is a major battle in the fight over the size and scope of government. If Obama can convince the American people that it is too draconian to cut just 2.5% of the budget, then America is doomed to follow the path of European-style socialism. From Article by Gary Bauer.
