On the recordFebruary 28, 2013
here we are again, on the eve of this administration's latest manufactured crisis. Tomorrow, as we all know-- anybody who has been paying attention knows--the sequester will go into effect. And if we believe the majority leader, the President, and his Cabinet, this will be devastating for our economy and for our country. But I wish to suggest that the majority leader, the President, and his Cabinet put down the beltway Koolaid, because they are predicting a disaster that will not occur. Let's put the responsibility for this where it lies. The sequester was the President's idea in the first place. As much as he and his press secretary and staff try to deny it, the fact is, as he wrote in his recent book, Bob Woodward has made the point that they told him it was their idea. The White House proposed it to Congress and the President signed it into law on August 2, 2011. In the year and a half since the Budget Control Act became the law of the land, the President has done virtually nothing--nothing--about it. He has ignored it. He suggested during the Presidential campaign that the sequester would not happen, and it was as if he tried to simply wish it away. Certainly we know one thing, and that is neither the President nor his Cabinet nor the Defense Department nor any part of his administration has done anything to plan for it--no planning whatsoever--which, of course, makes the implementation more challenging, to be sure.…
Source
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