Why you shouldn't trust Bob Woodward or John Boehner.

You will keep hearing about how President Obama is to blame for the sequester cuts and that it was his idea, not Speaker Boehner or any Republicans'.  It is complete bullshit, and here's why.

Boehner wanted deeper cuts sooner
John Boehner owns the Balanced Budget Amendment.  In his own video, he boasts having previously voted for the BBA and his continued support for a BBA in 2011.  He supported immediate cuts in spending with restrictions on tax increases -- he says so, word for word, in his video.



This video was posted July 11, 2011.  On July 19th, he offered his Cut, Cap and Balance plan:

"The “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan meets the criteria Speaker Boehner and Republicans laid out months ago for a debt limit proposal: it makes spending cuts that exceed the debt increase, requires reforms that restrain future spending, and prevents job-crushing tax hikes on families and job creators."

That plainly states that Boehner supported big cuts now, not small ones or ones that took a decade or longer to achieve, like the sequester.

Obama wanted less cuts and later
Bob Woodward doesn't seem to get the logic, here.  He says that Obama owns the sequester cuts, that it was Jack Lew's idea.  What Woodward doesn't explain, is that Obama tried to lessen the cuts that would have resulted from not increasing the debt ceiling, while Boehner lobbied for bigger cuts that would occur immediately.  During both the debt ceiling and the fiscal cliff discussions, Obama was trying to seek partial offsets for lesser cuts, by expanding taxes, particularly for those who are well off.

If the debt ceiling stayed in place, would Woodward have said that Boehner owned those cuts?  I think the distinction should be made, because Obama didn't want any of these cuts to begin with; again, remember that Boehner said that he got 98% of what he wanted in the Budget Control Act that gave us sequestration.

Bottom line
Republicans: Curiously and concurrently, they believe that deep cuts will help growth, but that the sequester cuts in defense will hurt jobs and make us less safe.

Boehner: Demonstrated a desire to shrink government many times, but he has never shown any backbone in taking responsibility for those cuts.

Woodward: Thinks Obama owns the sequestration, as if avoiding the debt ceiling cuts wasn't of huge importance to the economy.  Some would call that a white lie; I call it complete bullshit.

Obama: Didn't want the sequestration cuts, but caved in, because the only thing worse than sequestration cuts, were cuts required by the debt ceiling remaining in place.

Who lied to you?