Obama says he can't force sequester deal: 'I'm not a dictator' – as it happened

This article is more than 11 years old
Obama holds talks with Congressional leaders
President: sequester is 'a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts'
Boehner says discussion on new tax revenue 'is over'
Automatic budget cuts begin today
Military families feel effects of sequester
Read our essential guide to the sequester
Barack Obama sequester
President Barack Obama speaks to reporter following after meeting with congressional leaders regarding the automatic spending cuts. Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP

Summary

We're going to wrap up our live blog coverage of the onset of sequestration.

President Obama and the Republican leadership failed to reach a deal to replace the sequestration cuts, which will begin to take effect today.

The president held a lengthy press conference (for him) to try to pin blame for the cuts on Republicans. He said he can't force the cuts through because he isn't a dictator. He said he had proposed a balanced approach but Republicans would rather accept the sequester than raise taxes on the wealthiest.

House speaker John Boehner said the conversation over more tax revenues "is over" and next week the House will take up a continuing resolution to fund the budget for the next fiscal year.

A summary of what will be cut is here. Obama said the cuts would be felt gradually. Markets shrugged off the sequestration – or welcomed it, rather, with the Dow closing at 14,090, up 35 points.

Obama on spending cuts: 'none of this is necessary' – video

CNN reports on newly minted secretary of defense Chuck Hagel's first appearance in the Pentagon press room, where he takes questions on sequestration:

Security Clearance (@natlsecuritycnn)

Defense Sec. Chuck Hagel making first appearance in Pentagon press room. Answering questions about sequestration.

March 1, 2013
Security Clearance (@natlsecuritycnn)

Hagel sounding more subdued on cuts than others."We will manage these issues." #sequestration

March 1, 2013
Security Clearance (@natlsecuritycnn)

A bit more from Hagel:budget uncertainty puts ability to fulfill "all our missions" at risk

March 1, 2013

Sarah Kliff rates how "panicked" different categories of health care workers have a right to be over the sequester. Medical researchers are most at risk, she writes, while state Medicaid programs are least at risk:

The National Institutes for Health will face the full brunt of the sequester, losing 5.3 percent of its 2013 budget and then 8.2 percent annually in years going forward. In 2013, that works out to a $1.6 billion budget cut to the agency.

Judd's done. Now she will hold a conversation with the dean about women's health and justice issues worldwide. We'll surveil.

She's a confident public speaker who's not afraid to share her personal story.

Judd transitions from her youthful aid work to her career.

"So I went to the other jungle: Hollywood," she says.

"In 2002, I was really sick and tired of being sick and tired. At the times, it turns out, I didn't even know this, I was one of the highest-paid women in the history of Hollywood."

She describes a skirmish with self-pity that led to a breakthrough.

"How dare I be so self-pitiful, standing in a cold shower, when 1.3 bn people with whom I share this planet don't have access to safe drinking water? How dare I?

"Bono and my great friend Bobby Shriver called me up and started harassing me. And they told me, 'We know who you are. And your soul cares.'"

Judd is describing her international aid work.

"I would go anywhere but Yemen," Judd says. "I don't know why but I'm still scared of Yemen. They say that Congo is the worst for women but I've been there four times."

Judd is describing the evolution of her devotion to social justice.

The U2 album "Joshua Tree" changed her life, she says. "Where the streets have no name," she says. "To me that sounded like paradise."

Whoever is introducing Ashley Judd at GWU has made the actress stand awkwardly beside her while she delivers an interminable speech. For the last nine minutes and counting, which is a very long time if you're in Judd's shoes, they've been doing this:

ashley judd
Awwwwkward. Photograph: CNN

C-Span has a live feed of the Ashley Judd speech here. She has yet to take the stage approach the podium.

We're going to take a quick break from our sequestration coverage to hear what Ashley Judd, the actress and potential (it is said) senatorial candidate from Kentucky, has to say in her talk on women's reproductive health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

Michael Cohen tries to pinpoint the cause of the sequestration, in Comment is Free. He doesn't think it's a complicated question:

There is a very simple reason why this is happening: Republicans don't want to raise taxes.

Seriously, that's the reason. If we go back to the beginning of the manufactured fiscal and budgetary crises that have dominated American politics since Republicans took over Congress in January 2011, there is one constant in the repeated failure to reach agreement: GOP obstinacy over tax increases. It has become line in the sand issue for modern Republicans – not deficit reduction; not reducing government size. Those are talking points. It is taxes – above all – that gets Republican blood pumping.

Asked whether he was solely blaming Republicans, President Obama said "Give me an example of what I might do... So far I've gotten rebuffed, because Republicans have said, not a dime [on taxes]."

Read Cohen's full piece here.

Whoa!

Katy Steinmetz (@katysteinmetz)

@markhalperin My fave anagram for sequestration so far: "Antiques store."

March 1, 2013

Not everybody hates Congress. The legislature scored a 12% approval rating in a recent NYT/CBS poll.

But who are these people who like Congress – and what, in the name of all that is holy, do they see that makes them nod to themselves and say, 'Well, that's all working out pretty well'?

Annie Lowrey tracks down people who said they approve of Congress to find out why:

But the small group of people who really did approve of Congress generally seemed to fall into two broad camps, which might be termed the “natural optimists” and the “Obama haters.” [...]

“As dysfunctional as it might seem, I see Congress as trying to grapple with the diversity of this country, and a president who’s trying to demonize people,” Mr. Hamer said. “There’s tremendous polarization, and I don’t understand where the spirit of conceding and cooperating is. A leader that’s negative is not going to be successful in a government that’s got to win consensus.”

Full piece worth a read here.

Ron Brownstein writes in the National Journal that the immediate benefits for Republicans from allowing sequestration will come at a high cost:

Allowing this week’s automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration or the sequester, to take effect gives congressional Republicans some immediate political benefits. It allows them to bank measurable reductions in discretionary spending and to respond to the unstinting demands from their base (louder since the tax-raising fiscal-cliff agreement) to defy Obama.

But those modest rewards come at a high cost. Since the backlash against President George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism,” the GOP’s unquestioned top priority has been to reduce the federal government’s size and reach. Measured against that goal, the sequester is the budgetary equivalent of the Italian front during World War II: a bloody slog across a battlefield peripheral to the larger outcome.

Read the full piece here.

Military families fear the impact of sequestration on vital childcare services, writes the Guardian's Raya Jalabi:

Patrick's wife works full-time in IT for the Navy in Virginia. She could not take care of their son during working hours while Patrick was recovering. The couple turned to Family Child Care, a military-funded childcare program that provides full-time, part-time and hourly daycare for children of military employees.

"FCC was fantastic help," said Donaldson. "I had the day free to recover and I didn't have to run after a little one – especially because there were limits to picking my son up, after surgery." [...]

FCC, however, may be a victim of the sequester – the $85bn round of budget cuts that is sweeping through the federal government, starting this week. The military faces $46bn in spending cuts, which will result in 800,000 civilian employees being furloughed at least one day a week.

Read the full story here.

Read Guardian economics and finance editor Heidi N. Moore's essential guide to sequestration cuts here.

Let's take this group by group. The ones you're most likely to care about will be education, healthcare and employment. At least, those were the subjects discussed at a hearing that was "arranged by Democrats and attended by no Republicans," according to The Hill.

How are the markets reacting to sequestration? Take it away, Business Insider:

Henry Blodget (@hblodget)

HOLY CRAP WAHOO NEW HIGH!! T @ritholtz: TURN ON THE HYPE MACHINES: Dow all time highs 14164.53 from 2007 are less than 100 points away

March 1, 2013

Obama's 7 snippiest lines

There's been much made of the freedom the president feels after winning a second term, and how he's loosened up, allowed himself a mode of colorful expression his political instincts have prevented him from indulging.

Case in point, the seven snippiest things Obama told reporters this morning:

"There is a caucus of common sense on Capitol Hill. It's a silent group so far."

"I recognize that it's very hard for Republican leaders to be seen as making concessions to me. I sometimes think, is there something I could do to make some of these guys – the House Republican caucus – to not paint horns on my head."

"I'm not a dictator, I'm the president. [If McConnell or Boehner want to catch a plane], "I can't have Secret Service block the doorway. I know this has been some of the conventional wisdom. Somehow, even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, the fact that they don't take it, that I should somehow do a Jedi mind meld [with them]...."

"I like to think I've still got persuasive power left," he says. "Let me check."

"Give me an example of what I might do... This is a room full of smart people."

Sequester is "a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts to things that workers depend on."

"Mayor Bloomberg and others may not feel that impact. I suspect they won't. But that [military] family will. I guess it depends on where you sit."

And with that, he's done.

The president is hereby using the power of his office to advance his legislative agenda. He's spoken for 40 minutes to the press, an unusually long time in an administration when the president taking any questions at all has come to seem unusual.

Obama's statement this morning is, let's talk about it. I've got nothing to hide. The more we talk about it the more my advantage grows.

Q: How to stop the country from careening from crisis to crisis?

A: If you set aside budget fights for a second, we've been able to get the Violence Against Women Act done. Immigration reform is on the way. Early childhood education is growing. There's a discussion on how to reduce gun violence.

"With respect to the budget. What I've done is to make a case to the American people that we have to make sure that we have a balanced approach... but that deficit reduction alone is not economic policy. ...

"I think that for example we could put a lot of people back to work right now rebuilding our roads and bridges. I went to a bridge that connects Mitch McConnell's state to John Boehner's state, and it was rotten. And they know it. And I'm sure they want to fix it."

Obama is asked about his administration's decision to file an amicus brief in the same-sex marriage case now before the Supreme Court. The president's brief opposes California's Prop. 8, which outlaws same-sex marriage.

The president is conducting a conversation about the legal mechanisms for making same-sex marriage the law of the land. It's a very insinuated take on the role of the president versus the role of the court.

Obama's asked about NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's claim that the sequester is no big deal.

"The DoD right now has to figure out how the children of military families are going to continue with their schooling over the next several months because teachers at these bases are typically civilians, they are therefore subject to furlough, which means they may not be able to teach one day a week.

"They can probably schedule around it. [But if I'm a soldier deployed overseas], the notion that school might be disrupted [is bad].

"Mayor Bloomberg and others may not feel that impact. I suspect they won't. But that family will.

"I guess it depends on where you sit."

"The accumulation of all those stories of impact is going to make our economy weaker," Obama says. "That is real. That's not a scare tactic, that's a fact.

"Starting tomorrow, everybody here, cleaning the floors at the Capitol. They're going to have less pay. The janitors, the security guards. THey just got a pay cut. They've got to figure out how to manage that. That's real."

Obama: I can't do a 'Jedi mind meld'

Obama says "Democrats aren't doing anything either to compromise."

"There are members of my party who violently disagree that anything should be done on Medicare," he says. "I disagree with them... There's going to be some tough politics.

"We're not here for ourselves, we're not here for our parties, we're not here to advance our electoral prospects. We're here for American families.

"This is not a win for anybody. This is a loss for the American people."

Obama is striking a sober tone. He wants to send the message that a significant line has been crossed.

He's asked whether he's accusing Republicans alone of scotching the deal?

"Give me an example of what I might do," he says. "What I'm suggesting is, I've put forward a plan that has serious spending cuts, serious entitlement reform... I've offered negotiations around that kind of balanced approach. So far I've gotten rebuffed, because Republicans have said, not a dime [on taxes]."

Obama asks the press for suggestions of what he should do. "This is a room full of smart people," he says.

"I like to think I've still got persuasive power left," he says. "Let me check."

The issue is not my persuasive power," he says. It's what Americans want.

Q: Couldn't you just have them down here and refuse to let GOP leaders leave the room?

"I'm not a dictator, I'm the president. [If McConnell or Boehner want to catch a plane], "I can't have Secret Service block the doorway. I know this has been some of the conventional wisdom. Somehow, even though most people agree that I'm being reasonable, the fact that they don't take it, that I should somehow do a Jedi mind meld [with them]...."

He says he can't do a Jedi mind meld.

The president says the sequester will be "a slow grind that will intensify with each passing day," with growth cut by one half of one percent and about 750,000 jobs lost.

"Every time that we get a piece of economic news over the next month, six months... we'll know that news could have been better," Obama says.

"[Republicans have] allowed these cuts to happen because they've refused to budge on closing a single loophole.

"They think that's apparently more important than protecting the middle class or the military from the pain of these cuts.

"There are Republicans in Congress who privately at least say they'd rather close those loopholes than let these cuts go through.

"There is a caucus of common sense on Capitol Hill. It's a silent group so far."

"I recognize that speaker Boehner has got challenges in his caucus," Obama says. "I recognize that it's very hard for Republican leaders to be seen as making concessions to me. I sometimes think, is there something I could do to make some of these guys – the House Republican caucus – to not paint horns on my head."

President Obama speaks about the sequester, which he says will hurt the middle class, although not everyone will be affected.

"The good news is the American people are strong and resilient," he says. "We will get through this as well. Even with these cuts in place.

"Washington sure isn't making it easy."

The president calls the sequester a "series of dumb, arbitrary cuts to things that workers depend on, like education, research, infrastructure and defense."

"It's unnecessary and at a time when too many Americans are looking for work, it's inexcusable.

"Many middle class families will have their lives disrupted in significant ways."

He mentions layoffs, especially in communities built around defense facilities. Border agents face pay cuts and furloughs.

Speaker Boehner has emerged from the White House and addressed the press very briefly. He doesn't characterize the discussion on sequestration except to say that talk about taxes "is over."

"The House will act this week and hopefully the Senate will soon," Boehner said.

The House will work on passing a budget resolution next week, he says. An agreement on sequestration could shake out during budget talks, or it might not. If Congress and the president can't agree to a budget by 27 March, the government will shut down.

This morning's attempt at negotiation, if it even was that, is not encouraging to the prospects for a budget bargain.

The president is to speak in 15 minutes.

Major Garrett(@MajorCBS)

Boehner at the WH stakeout: discussion of extra reveneue "is over"; House will move a bill to extend CR (it expires 3/27) next week

March 1, 2013

What will be cut

Multiple guides to what will be cut under sequestration are here, including a general explainer and a state-by-state guide.

Sequestration removes $85bn from the federal budget over the next seven months and $1.2tn over the next 10 years, including $500bn in defense cuts.

Discretionary nondefense programs facing cuts include everything from child care to tuition subsidies to national park upkeep, HIV treatment, air traffic control, food stamps, nutrition for seniors, vaccinations, job-search help, public housing subsidies and rental assistance, special education, Head start, Medicare and more.

As a projected total of federal spending the cuts are not large. As a reality in the lives of the people who depend on these programs, they're huge.

Guardian Washington bureau chief Ewen MacAskill reports on the climate surrounding today's White House meeting.

Chances for a deal, he writes, are in unicorn territory:

Obama sat down with the four Congressional leaders – Republicans Mitch McConnell and John Boehner and Democrats Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi – at the White House at 10.18 am Friday.

It is basically a photo-opportunity. There is more chance of a unicorn dancing down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue than the five coming out to announce a deal.

McConnell said as much in a statement issued this morning. "There will be no last-minute, back-room deal and absolutely no agreement to increase taxes," McConnell said.

The only unknown now is precisely when today Obama will issue the order imposing $85 billion in spending cuts to federal programmes.

At that point, federal agencies will begin the process of implementing cuts and sending out notices to workers warning them to expect cuts in their hours and spells of compulsory, unpaid furlough. 

Many have described this as Groundhog Day, yet another clash over spending and taxation. But there is a difference this time. Neither side is in any rush to reach a deal. Both the White House and the Republicans are engaged in a game of chicken and it could last for weeks and probably months.

Chuck Schumer's not at this morning's meeting: He's in Brooklyn, where Fairway Market is open once again following Hurricane Sandy.

Sequestration will cut $2.9bn in aid for victims of Sandy, according to New Jersey lawmakers.

Hunter Walker (@hunterw)

Here's @chuckschumer hanging out with Miss America at Fairway twitter.com/ChuckSchumer/s…

March 1, 2013

Michael D. Shear in the New York Times explains how the big flywheel driving sequestration cuts will begin to turn today:

At some point on Friday (no one will say precisely when), President Obama will formally notify government agencies that an obscure process known as sequestration is in effect, triggering deep, across-the-board budget cuts that will force federal spending to shrink.

At that moment, somewhere in the bowels of the Treasury Department, officials will take offline the computers that process payments for school construction and clean energy bonds to reprogram them for reduced rates. Payments will be delayed while they are made manually for the next six weeks.

Read the full piece here.

Good morning and welcome to our live blog coverage of sequestration, which is a disco move.

House speaker John Boehner is on his way to the White House this morning to meet with the president to try to find a way to avoid budget cuts scheduled to take effect sometime today. Congress has the day off so there won't be a law to stop the cuts.

President Obama is obliged to sign a sequestration order by 11.59pm tonight.

The first step in any case would be for the two sides to find a way to see eye-to-eye. This morning they're in the same room together, which is a start. But given the quality of the dialogue so far, their emergence with a deal would register as the kind of miraculous event that gets religions started.

Their meeting begins at 10am.