With the Supercommittee expected to announce its failure any time now, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney described the defense cuts planned under sequestration as “unwise,” and called for Congress to achieve deficit reduction before they go into effect next year. Specifically, Carney proposed raising taxes on the wealthy as the necessary concession from Republicans, indicating that the Democrats will accept the sequestration cuts rather than yield on that point.
“[The executive branch has] made clear that the cuts in the sequester are not the best approach to achieving the kind of deficit reduction that we need,” Carney said during today’s press briefing, “and that the defense cuts are much deeper than we think are wise.”
“Congress still has it within its capacity to be responsible and act,” Carney also said. “As you noted, the sequester doesn’t take effect for a year. Congress could still act and has plenty of time to act and we call on Congress to fulfill its responsibility.”
Carney also said the sequestration should not be negated if the Supercommittee fails. Congress, he said, “needs to hold itself to account, and also should not try to undo the consequences of its own failure.”
Instead, Carney argued that Republicans need to “ask the very wealthiest Americans, millionaires and billionaires, to pay just a little bit extra so that we can achieve the kind of deficit reduction and long term debt control that we need. Short of that willingness, it’s hard to see how we get to an answer.”
