WASHINGTON – House Republicans Tuesday jumped on President Barack Obama for missing a deadline to submit his budget request to Congress, but Obama fired back that lawmakers should pass a quick-fix bill to forestall the automatic spending cuts set to take effect at the end of the month.
In a statement at the White House, Obama asked lawmakers to consider a short-term proposal to avoid the impending widespread cuts on domestic and military programs. He said Congress may not be able to pass a budget by the March 1, when the automatic cuts, known as the sequester, are set to take effect.
“If Congress can’t act quickly on the bigger package by the time the sequester is scheduled to go into effect, then I believe they should at least pass a smaller package,” Obama said.
By rule, the president is supposed to present a spending plan by the first Monday of February, but he has missed the deadline for three straight years.
With Republicans controlling the House and Democrats holding a majority in the Senate, Obama’s past budget requests have not been seriously considered, but the plan is particularly important this year as the sequester looms ahead.
“Solving America’s problems start with what every family does every month: They’ve got to do a budget,” Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday.
Boehner said he wants the House to approve a bill requiring the president to submit a supplemental budget by April, if his initial proposal is not a balanced budget. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., introduced that legislation, called Require a Plan Act, last week, and the House is scheduled to vote on it Wednesday.
Assistant Minority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., criticized his colleagues in Congress on Tuesday for focusing on Price’s bill that he called “full of sound and message and signifies nothing.”
“This bill does nothing to stop the sequester,” Hoyer said. “With just over three weeks to go (before the sequester hits), we are considering legislation that does nothing other than send a message. And the message it sends is wrong.”
Hoyer defended Obama, saying that the deficit is not caused by the president, because he can’t spend or incur debt without Congress’ approval.
Obama signed the No Budget, No Pay Act into law Monday. The law, which the House Republicans originally proposed, temporarily suspends the country’s debt limit until May, and it will also withhold Congress’ pay until the House passes a budget resolution.
