Obama to propose ending sequester

President Barack Obama will tell House Democrats on Thursday that his budget will call for an end to sequestration cuts and build on the “middle class economics” package he outlined in the State of the Union — setting up a clear contrast with Republicans in Congress who want to stick to the spending limits.

In a speech at the House Democratic retreat in Philadelphia, Obama will “propose to end the across-the-board sequester cuts that threaten our economy and our military,” spelling out instead a more detailed package of proposals for “making paychecks go further, creating good jobs here in the United States, and preparing hardworking Americans to earn higher wages,” according to a White House official.


Obama will also call for a “clean funding bill” for the Department of Homeland Security “to ensure we are funding our national security priorities in the face of cybersecurity and security threats abroad,” the official said — a strong hint that he’d veto any appropriations bill that tries to rein in his executive actions on immigration, as Republicans want to do.

It’s not exactly a surprise that Obama will propose an end to sequestration cuts in his budget. He’s been speaking out against them for years, calling them “a really bad idea.” And his budget last year proposed a separate $56 billion fund to show how spending could be increased on defense and economic initiatives.

This time, Obama’s budget will call for an outright end to the next round of automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to take place in October. An earlier, bipartisan budget agreement between Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who at the time chaired the budget committees of their respective chambers, got rid of some of the spending cuts for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. But that agreement runs out in October, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that a further $91 billion in discretionary spending cuts —$54 billion for defense, $37 billion for nondefense programs — will start then unless Obama and Congress reach a deal to prevent them.

“The President’s budget will fully reverse those cuts for domestic priorities and match those investments dollar-for-dollar with the resources our troops need to keep America safe,” the White House official said.

In a clear nod to liberal Democrats — who refer to the years of spending cuts as “austerity” — Obama will call on Republicans to “end the era of manufactured crises and mindless austerity” and instead use the Ryan-Murray agreement as a model for cancelling future cuts, the official said.

Republicans are dismissing the idea, saying Obama hasn’t shown any willingness to take on the nation’s long-term fiscal problems.

“Republicans believe there are smarter ways to cut spending than the sequester and have passed legislation to replace it multiple times, only to see the president continue to demand tax hikes,” said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. “Until he gets serious about solving our long-term spending problem, it’s hard to take him seriously.”