M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Reporters and Editors
RE: President Obama’s remarks on the sequester
DA: Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Senator Chuck Grassley made the following comment about President Obama’s comments today on the sequester and a budget package.
“The details of the sequester are less than ideal, and spending cuts ought to be made in a way that shows good management, but the sequester is the law, and the White House and the Senate have failed to work on an alternative month after month. The pile of cans that have been kicked down the road under the watch of the President and the Senate Majority Leader would be worth a lot of money in Iowa, where you get five cents for every can you turn in. There’s nothing funny, though, about the fact that both short- and long-term spending problems are being virtually ignored by the President, even when it’s so obvious the harm it does to future generations and to getting the economy turned around so we can create jobs today. Even so, the President is asking for more tax increases in place of spending reductions. The grassroots knows that spending is the problem. The reality is you can’t raise taxes high enough to fix the budget impact of the entitlement programs. And, Washington failing to address fiscal problems works against the certainty and confidence needed to build a stronger economy.”