Spending Cuts Seem Here to Stay

By Philip Elliott, Associates Press

WASHINGTON -- The spending cuts are here to stay if you believe the public posturing Sunday.

The Senate's Republican leader Mitch McConnell called them modest. House Speaker John Boehner isn't sure the cuts will hurt the economy. The White House's top economic adviser, Gene Sperling, said the pain isn't that bad right now.

So after months of dire warnings, Washington didn't implode, government didn't shut down and the $85 billion budget trigger didn't spell doom. And no one has a tangible proposal for rolling back those cuts.

"This modest reduction of 2.4% in spending over the next six months is a little more than the average American experienced just two months ago, when their own pay went down when the payroll tax holiday expired," McConnell said.

"I don't know whether it's going to hurt the economy or not," Boehner said. "I don't think anyone quite understands how the sequester is really going to work."

And Sperling, making the rounds on the Sunday news shows, added: "On Day One, it will not be as harmful as it will be over time."

Both parties cast blame on the other for the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts but gave little guidance on what to expect in the coming weeks. Republicans and Democrats pledged to retroactively undo the cuts but signaled no hints as to how that process would start to take shape. Republicans insisted there would be no new taxes and Democrats refused to talk about any bargain without them.

"That's not going to work," said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) "If we're going to increase revenue again, it's got to go to the debt with real entitlement reform and real tax reform when you actually lower rates. ... I'm not going to agree to any more tax increases that are going to go to increase more government."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said any tax increases were unacceptable.

"I'm not going to do any more small deals. I'm not going to raise taxes to fix sequestration. We don't need to raise taxes to fund the government," Graham said.

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