Democrats want mix of tax increases and spending cuts while Republicans say there will be no more tax hikes.
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President Barack Obama speaks Tuesday in Washington, D.C., urging Congress to come up with an alternative plan to avert automatic spending cuts set to kick in on March 1.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., Obama says the $85 billion in cuts — known as the sequester — are “severe” and says they won’t help the economy and won’t create jobs.
Obama is calling the across-the-board cuts a “meat cleaver” approach to reducing the deficit. He says the cuts would impact the nation’s military readiness and investment in areas like education.
He’s calling on Republicans to back a plan proposed by Senate Democrats that would offset the sequester through a combination of increased tax revenue and targeted budget cuts. GOP lawmakers are opposed to more tax revenue, saying Obama got the tax increases he wanted during the “fiscal cliff” negotiations.
“People will lose their jobs,” Obama said. “The unemployment rate might tick up again.
“So far at least, the ideas that the Republicans have proposed ask nothing of the wealthiest Americans or the biggest corporations,” Obama said. “So the burden is all on the first responders, or seniors or middle class families.”
House Republicans have proposed an alternative to the immediate cuts, targeting some spending and extending some of the reductions over a longer period of time. They also have said they are willing to undertake changes in the tax code and eliminate loopholes and tax subsidies. But they have said they would overhaul the tax system to reduce rates, not to raise revenue.
A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said the Ohio Republican agrees the sequester is a bad way to reduce spending, but put the onus for averting the cuts on Democrats.
“A solution now requires the Senate — controlled by the president’s party — to finally pass a plan of their own,” spokesman Brendan Buck said.
Obama’s remarks came a day after he returned to Washington from a three-day golfing weekend in Florida.
Congress is not in session this week, meaning no votes will occur before next week and complicating the ability to negotiate any short-term resolution.