House Republican leaders returned to Washington in attack mode on Monday, accusing President Obama of being a “road show president” days before automatic spending cuts are set to take effect.
“The president proposed the sequester, yet he’s far more interested in holding campaign rallies than he is in urging Senate Democrats to actually pass a plan,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a brief Capitol news conference with the House GOP leadership team.
Obama is scheduled to travel to Virginia on Tuesday to rally public support for his approach to replacing the $85 billion in sequestration cuts, but Republicans called on him to return to Washington and devise a plan with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
“This is not the time for a road show president,” said Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the third-ranking House Republican.
At the same time, the GOP is rejecting the president’s call for more tax revenue to replace the cuts, and Boehner gave no indication the House would act before the cuts take effect March 1.
“Well, Mr. President, you got your tax increase. It’s time to cut spending here in Washington,” Boehner said. “Instead of using our military men and women as campaign props, if the president were serious, he’d sit down with Harry Reid and begin to address our problems. The House has acted twice. We shouldn’t have to act a third time for the Senate to begin to do their work.”
The Senate is expected to hold votes on dueling plans to deal with sequestration this week, but neither is expected to pass.
For more on Boehner's comments, click here.
