Obama Calls for Brief Sequester Dodge

President Obama wants to put off the dreaded sequester just a little while longer. In an address this afternoon, Obama called for a handful of small budget cuts to justify pushing the automatic spending cuts back again, this time until after Congress has crafted a new federal budget, the Washington Post reports. The extra time could be used, Obama said, to come up with a "balanced" long-term deficit fix. "There is no reason that the jobs of thousands of Americans … not to mention the growth of the entire economy should be put in jeopardy just because a few folks in Washington couldn't agree to eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes," he said.

But before Obama had even spoken, John Boehner issued a statement dismissing the idea of any deal including more tax revenue, accurately predicting that Obama would call for it, Politico reports. "President Obama first proposed the sequester and insisted it become law," Boehner said. "We believe there is a better way to reduce the deficit, but Americans do not support sacrificing real spending cuts for more tax hikes." (More sequester stories.)