Boxer calls GOP ‘the austerity party,’ says sequester dangers are real

Calling the GOP "the austerity party," Sen. Barbara Boxer bristled Tuesday at suggestions that Democrats are trying to gin up fear about the fast-approaching cuts from sequestration.

President Obama and members of his Cabinet have held daily events to detail the consequences of the across-the-board spending cuts totaling $85 billion, which are set to begin on Friday. Republicans have decried the warnings as scare tactics.

Boxer (D-Calif.) highlighted the sequester's potential impacts on schools, law enforcement and healthcare around the nation.

"I'm telling the truth. If people get scared, they get scared," she told reporters.

Boxer criticized congressional Republicans who have refused to consider any deal to stop the cuts that includes increased tax revenue. The GOP has insisted that the money to reverse the sequester should come from spending cuts alone.

"That is austerity and you're courting economic crisis," she said. "They're not the Grand Old Party, they're the austerity party."

Boxer urged Republicans to reconsider inclusion of the so-called Buffett Rule, which would tax millionaires at a rate of at least 30 percent. That measure alone would generate roughly half of the total revenue needed to avert the sequester, she said.

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