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.”