McConnell: President Is Offering ‘Armageddon or Tax Hikes’ to Avert Sequester
Published at
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Obama is offering only two options to avert the looming sequestration cuts — “Armageddon or tax hikes.”
“Instead of engaging with us, the president just set up more roadblocks,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “For more than a year he resisted and dismissed every Republican attempt at a compromise. He refused to offer any kind of reasonable alternatives and he even threatened to veto any other proposals aimed at averting the sequester. And now, here we are and with the president presenting the country with two options. Armageddon or a tax hike.”
“Well it’s a false choice and he knows it. But then the president is master at creating the impression of chaos as an excuse for government action. Do nothing, fan the flames of catastrophe and then claim the only way out is more government in the form of higher taxes,” he continued.
McConnell criticized Obama for traveling to Newport News, Va. on Tuesday, as the president highlights how the budget cuts would affect the military and defense contractors, rather than collaborating with Congress on a way to prevent the cuts from taking place.
“Today, he’s off campaigning again in Virginia instead of working with us to resolve the issue,” McConnell said. “The president’s been running around acting as the world’s going to end because congress might actually follow through on the idea he proposed, he proposed and signed into law, all the while pretending he’s somehow powerless to stop it.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid meanwhile accused Republicans in Congress of being “part of the problem” in finding a solution to the upcoming cuts.
“We want to work with Republicans to come to a balanced, responsible way to reduce this sequester, the impact of it. My Republican colleagues are standing in the way,” Reid said on the Senate floor. “They only want cuts and more cuts.”
“The only Republicans in America that don’t support this balanced approach are the Republicans that serve here in Congress, in the Senate and the House,” Reid added. “With only three days left to protect American families, our economic recovery from this latest crisis, it’s time for Republicans to work towards a solution instead of being a part of the problem.”
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio