At House retreat, Dems take message cue from Obama
President Barack Obama will tell House Democrats on Thursday that his budget will call for an end to sequestration cuts and build on the âmiddle class economicsâ package he outlined in the State of the Union â 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 âpropose to end the across-the-board sequester cuts that threaten our economy and our military,â spelling out instead a more detailed package of proposals for âmaking paychecks go further, creating good jobs here in the United States, and preparing hardworking Americans to earn higher wages,â according to a White House official. Story Continued Below Obama will also call for a âclean funding billâ for the Department of Homeland Security âto ensure we are funding our national security priorities in the face of cybersecurity and security threats abroad,â the official said â a strong hint that heâd veto any appropriations bill that tries to rein in his executive actions on immigration, as Republicans want to do. Itâs not exactly a surprise that Obama will propose an end to sequestration cuts in his budget. Heâs been speaking out against them for years, calling them âa really bad idea.â 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, Obamaâs 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 Democrat Patty Murray and Paul Ryan 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 another $91 billion in discretionary spending cuts â$54 billion for defense, $37 billion for non-defense programs â will start then unless Obama and Congress reach a deal to prevent them. âThe Presidentâs 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,â the White House official said. In a clear nod to liberal Democrats â who refer to the years of spending cuts as âausterityâ â Obama will call on Republicans to âend the era of manufactured crises and mindless austerity,â and instead use the Ryan-Murray agreement as a model for cancelling future cuts, the official said. Republicans are dismissing the idea, saying Obama hasnât shown any willingness to take on the nationâs long-term fiscal problems. âRepublicans 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,â said Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner. âUntil he gets serious about solving our long-term spending problem itâs hard to take him seriously.â