Boehner: Sequester Cuts Would be a "Meat-Axe to Our Government"

Washington -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the sequester cuts that will indiscriminately cut $109 billion in spending across federal agencies would be a "meat-axe" the the U.S. Federal government and that he's not in favor of it.

"I don't like the sequester. I think its taking a meat-axe to our government. A meat-axe to many programs and will weaken our national defense," Boehner said.

Instead, Boehner says, the sequester "should be replaced with spending cuts and reforms that put us on a path to balance the budget over the next ten years."

When asked if there are no cuts or reforms would he be opposed in a delay in the sequester, Boehner said that he would, meaning that the sequester cuts would take effect.

Speaker Boehner has been trying to pin the sequester on President Obama since at least late last year.

"But the President didn't want to have to deal with the debt limit again before his reelection," Boehner said. 

"It was the president and the Senate democrats who committed to working with us to get an outcome out of the super committee. But if the super committee couldn't get an outcome the sequester were going to go into effect," he continued.

On Tuesday, as CNSNews.com reported, Progressive House Democrats introduced their own legislation - the Balance Act- to reduce the deficit.

The house progressive's plan -- unlike Boehner's which says that the sequester should be replaced with "common sense cuts and reforms" that do no harm to U.S. national defense -- reduces the deficit mainly through closing various tax loopholes and cutting defense department spending.

A Congressional Progressive Caucus memo says that the bill will raise revenue for the federal government by nearly a trillion dollars - $960 billion - and cuts $278 in "wasteful Pentagon spending." It also sends money to infrastructure projects and shores up teacher's jobs and renovates schools.

Boehner rests his case on his argument that Americans have already seen President Obama get revenue through the fiscal cliff deal and that they are ready to see spending cuts.

The sequester cuts are set to take place in fiscal year 2013.

(Editor's Note: Was originally filed on February 6, 2013 but went unpublished for no good reason.)