Bob Woodward, White House “Moving the Goal Posts,” Using “Distortion & Confusion” to Demand Tax Hikes to Replace Its Sequester

White House “Moving the Goal Posts,” Using “Distortion & Confusion” to Demand Tax Hikes to Replace Its Sequester President Obama got more than $600 billion in tax hikes (with no spending cuts) just last month, and veteran journalist Bob Woodward says the president is “moving the goal posts” in his campaign to replace his sequester with even higher taxes. “That was not the deal he made,” Woodward writes. And claiming otherwise is a “classic case of distortion and confusion.” Here are a few more things to keep in mind this week: This is President Obama’s sequester. “The idea for sequestration did come from the White House, as news accounts made clear at the time,” reports the New York Times. “Jacob J. Lew, then Mr. Obama’s budget director and now his nominee for Treasury secretary, was the main proponent.” Republicans have passed two bills to replace the president’s sequester with smarter cuts and reforms. The House first passed its sequester replacement bill in May 2012 and then again last December. President Obama’s Senate hasn’t passed a thing. They haven’t passed a budget in nearly four years either.

The president’s “endless campaign” has left him “virtually absent” from the legislative process. The White House even waited until the last minute to lift its “gag order” on Cabinet officials. But lost in their campaign is the fact that the president got his tax hikes; it’s time to address Washington’s spending problem.

If the president were serious about replacing his sequester, he’d cancel his campaign events this week and devote his schedule to pressing his Democratic-controlled Senate to finally pass something.

John A. Boehner | Speaker of the House | Ohio’s 8th Congressional District Representative Office of the Speaker Contact H-232 The Capitol Washington D.C. 20515 P: (202) 225-0600 F: (202) 225-5117