"It is frustrating that more people in Washington do not have a sense of urgency about heading-off these sequester cuts. There’s a smart way and a stupid way to cut spending, and these across the board sequester cuts represent the absolute dumbest way to be conducting the nation’s business. I will continue to work with my colleagues in urging the White House and congressional leaders to at least provide enough flexibility for agencies to make more rational budget decisions." - Mark Warner (D-VA)
It's astonishing to me that six months ago everyone understood how dumb this was - and it offered a threat point precisely because of how dumb it was - and today people are actively embracing what was once acknowledged to be the dumb option. It makes you wonder if that's what the intent was all along.
Anyway, I'm glad to have Warner in there.
It's almost astonishing to see how different the coverage of sequestration is from the coverage of the fiscal cliff, which was regarded as this immediate catastrophe that needed countdown clocks and hair on fire panic. Now that the sequester is almost here, it seems like the media has collectively decided that it's inevitable and that it SHOULD be allowed to happen (and that the Obama administration is overhyping it). I remember being amazed around the time of the cliff that everyone had suddenly realized that contractionary fiscal policy is bad for a fragile economy, but now it's pretty clear that that's only the case when people's tax rates might go up. Everyone just KNOWS that spending has to be cut, so massive, irrational spending cuts aren't going to be as bad as those liberals say.
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