DCCC places sequestration blame on Republicans with new ads

By Alexandra Jaffe - 02/21/13 09:36 AM ET

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching paid online advertising that attempts to saddle House Republicans with responsibility for the impending series of automatic cuts known as the sequester.

The ads feature news clips of reporters and pundits discussing first the potentially devastating effects of the sequester — longer lines at airports because of TSA cuts, fewer food inspections, layoffs at the Defense Department, among other things — and then laying blame on the shoulders of Republicans.

"The Tea Party Congress of Chronic Chaos Strikes Again," the video reads at its opening.

It charges at the end that "Tea Party Republicans refuse to even vote on a compromise that would stop the damage."

"And who is responsible? Congressman Bill Young (Fla.) and the Tea Party Republicans," reads the last shot of the ad.

The ad, which is the first phase of what the DCCC called a "paid grassroots advertising" campaign to place blame for the sequester on Republicans, will run online in the districts of 27 Republicans the DCCC sees as vulnerable going into 2014, including Reps. Andy Barr (Ky.), Dan Webster (Fla.) and Jon Runyan (N.J.).

It reflects a back-and-forth effort between House Republicans and Democrats to place blame for the $1.2 trillion in across-the-board automatic cuts due to begin on March 1, if Congress doesn't find a fix.

Democrats say that Republicans will receive the blame if the cuts take place, because they've proposed a sequester-replacement bill that Republicans have turned down.

President Obama has also hit the road to sell his party's position on the sequester, which Democrats believe will help them sway public opinion.

But Republicans insist that the sequester was Obama's idea in the first place, and that the solutions proposed by Democrats aren't serious, and won't be popular with Americans, because they include too much in revenue and not enough cuts.

The DCCC, however, seems to see sequestration as a winner for Democrats. In a statement, DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said House Republicans are responsible for the pink slips potentially sent to American workers nationwide as a result of sequestration.

“There are real-world consequences for middle-class families because of House Republicans’ dysfunction and chronic chaos,” he said.