WH Tries to Blame Sequester Cuts Devised by Administration on GOP

On Wednesday, the White House suggested the threat of sequester during the fiscal cliff negotiations was responsible for the dismal GDP report that showed the economy contracted during the fourth quarter. 

White House press secretary Jay Carney tried to pin the blame squarely on Republicans, even though the sequestration proposal, as Bob Woodward reported, originated in the White House in 2011. 

Carney faulted “Republicans in Congress” for the poor numbers because, he said, the GOP talked “about letting” automatic defense and spending cuts take effect “as though that were an acceptable thing.” 

The White House, though, devised the sequestration plan as a political ploy to try and get concessions from Republicans during the budget and debt ceiling negotiations in 2011. 

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, Brendan Buck, said “these arbitrary, automatic cuts were a creation and demand of the White House in 2011.”

“Twice the House has passed legislation to replace them with common sense cuts and reforms,” he added. “If there was any uncertainty late last year about the sequester, it was because the Democratic-controlled Senate, per usual, never lifted a finger to pass a plan to replace it.”