Leaders of a divided US Congress failed to avert huge spending cuts set to begin on Friday midnight, with President Barack Obama trading blame with Republicans over the doomsday scenario that may lie ahead. The only related actions of substance appeared to be votes on two competing bills, one sponsored by the Democrats and the other by the Republicans, to replace the budget austerity with targeted spending cuts and tax revenues. In a sign of what Obama described as typical Washington 'dysfunction', both bills failed to advance in the Senate.
The sequester was sealed into law in 2011, when the White House and Republicans agreed on wide-ranging cuts designed to be so painful that they would force Congressmen to reach a more palatable compromise to rein in the debt. The US president swiftly pointed the finger at the Republicans for refusing to adopt his plan to avoid the $85 billion in mandated reductions set to ravage the US economy this year. Obama said that by refusing to allow a vote on a bill that includes a balance of tax revenue and targeted cuts, the Republicans are 'threatening our economy with a series of arbitrary, automatic budget cuts that will cost us jobs and slow our recovery'.
The inaction ensures that no legislative solution will be ready before the so-called sequester kicks in on Friday, when federal programs in every agency including the military will suffer reductions. 'As a nation, we can't keep lurching from one manufactured crisis to another,' said Obama, reiterating a point he has made since the 'fiscal cliff' negotiations last December led to only a partial fix of the looming budget issues.
He was set to make a final plea to the bickering congressional leaders at a a White House meeting , where he would come face to face with Republican House Speaker John Boehner and top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, who had lambasted him on Thursday for failing to lead America out of the fiscal turmoil.
Senators and Representatives from both sides have already acknowledged that the sequester is now a reality, at least temporarily, and that a solution might arise from March negotiations over funding government operations for fiscal year 2013. 'We've laid our cards on the table,' said Boehner while explaining why his chamber, which passed two sequester-relief bills last year, would take no further action until the Senate passed a bill.
John Cornyn, the number two Senate Republican, said that Obama and his Democrats have been overstating their 'apocalyptic predictions' of hundreds of thousands of job losses, a slash in economic growth, and harsh cuts to social services and national security. 'I would suggest... put down the Beltway Kool-Aid, because they are predicting a disaster that will not occur,' opined Cornyn.
The sequester was sealed into law in 2011, when the White House and Republicans agreed on wide-ranging cuts designed to be so painful that they would force Congressmen to reach a more palatable compromise to rein in the debt. The US president swiftly pointed the finger at the Republicans for refusing to adopt his plan to avoid the $85 billion in mandated reductions set to ravage the US economy this year. Obama said that by refusing to allow a vote on a bill that includes a balance of tax revenue and targeted cuts, the Republicans are 'threatening our economy with a series of arbitrary, automatic budget cuts that will cost us jobs and slow our recovery'.
The inaction ensures that no legislative solution will be ready before the so-called sequester kicks in on Friday, when federal programs in every agency including the military will suffer reductions. 'As a nation, we can't keep lurching from one manufactured crisis to another,' said Obama, reiterating a point he has made since the 'fiscal cliff' negotiations last December led to only a partial fix of the looming budget issues.
He was set to make a final plea to the bickering congressional leaders at a a White House meeting , where he would come face to face with Republican House Speaker John Boehner and top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, who had lambasted him on Thursday for failing to lead America out of the fiscal turmoil.
Senators and Representatives from both sides have already acknowledged that the sequester is now a reality, at least temporarily, and that a solution might arise from March negotiations over funding government operations for fiscal year 2013. 'We've laid our cards on the table,' said Boehner while explaining why his chamber, which passed two sequester-relief bills last year, would take no further action until the Senate passed a bill.
John Cornyn, the number two Senate Republican, said that Obama and his Democrats have been overstating their 'apocalyptic predictions' of hundreds of thousands of job losses, a slash in economic growth, and harsh cuts to social services and national security. 'I would suggest... put down the Beltway Kool-Aid, because they are predicting a disaster that will not occur,' opined Cornyn.