President Obama told House Democrats on Thursday that he is "prepared, eager and anxious" to produce a "big package" on the so-called sequester that would end "this governance in crisis."
Speaking to lawmakers at the House Democratic Issues Conference in Lansdowne, Va., a pugnacious Obama said he is prepared to take on Republicans who he says are plotting to strip benefits from the elderly and others who need them.
"If that's an argument they want to have ... that's an argument I'm more than willing to engage in," Obama said. "I promise you we can win that debate because we're on the right side of this argument."
In recent days, Obama has called for the sequester to be replaced with a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes, while Speaker John Boehner and Republicans say that it should only be replaced by other spending cuts.
Obama on Thursday acknowledged that he would like to "do some additional reforms" on entitlements and "cut out programs that we don't need." But he argued that it "shouldn't be on the backs" of senior citizens and middle-class Americans.
For more on Obama's remarks, click here.
