May 18, 2013
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Martha Roby and the House Republican Leadership today pressed the White House for active leadership in finding a way to avoid sequester military cuts, reminding President Obama that the threatened cuts were his idea to begin with.
At a news conference with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor(R-VA), Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rogers(R-WA), Conference Vice Chair Lynn Jenkins(R-KS) and Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-IL), Rep. Roby continued to put her call for presidential leadership in plain terms.
“The President last night said that the sequester was a bad idea. Well, Mr. President, the sequester was your idea,” Rep. Roby said
“There is a smarter way to reduce the size of government than to slash defense spending, threatening our national security and hurting military families,” said Rep. Roby, who voted against the August 2011 Budget Control Act that included the President’s sequestration plan.
The House has twice passed plans to replace the military sequestration cuts with targeted, reasonable reductions in spending based on budget priorities. However, the Senate never acted on those bills, and the President has not put forward a plan of his own. Meanwhile, the military cuts once thought to be unthinkable now appear more likely. The leaders called on the White House and the Senate to join House efforts to find commonsense alternatives to sequestration before it is too late.
