When President Obama designed the sequester back in 2011, he did so with one goal in mind: forcing Republicans to vote for more tax hikes. So now that the sequester is just one week away, and the Republicans still have not budged on their refusal to raise taxes, Democrats are desperate to up the pain the sequester cuts will inflict on the American people.
Hence the opposition from Congressional Democrats to Republican plans that would give Obama maximum flexibility in how to administer the $85 billion in scheduled spending reductions set to begin March 1st. “Those conversations are happening and they’re happening at a leadership level,” a Republican Senate source told The Washington Examiner‘s Joel Gehrke. “The bill would not try to replace the cuts, [but] it would instead give the president maximum authority to prioritize.”
