Roskam: Sequester Remarks Show 'Void of Presidential Leadership'

U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) responded to President Obama's remarks on his sequester with the following statement Tuesday:

“Today, the void of presidential leadership was on full display. Instead of getting in a room with Senate Democrats and passing a sequester replacement plan, President Obama chose to get behind a podium and give yet another speech. Noticeably absent from his speech was the fact that House Republicans have already passed two alternatives to the sequester his White House proposed in the last round of budget negotiations.  

“Everyone agrees that the sequester is not an artful way to achieve the spending cuts that our bloated federal budget desperately needs. But the president gets it wrong when he demands that Americans should pay even more in taxes to fuel more government spending. The federal government runs trillion dollar deficits as a matter of routine—surely we can find a way to shave a few cents off of every dollar the government spends in order to avert the sequester and put our nation on more solid financial footing.”  

Nationwide cuts set to take place March 1 are the first of a decade-long $1.2 trillion budget cut plan that would go into effect unless congress can compromise on a defecit-reduction plan. 

According to the White House, Illinois could lose about $33.4 million in funding for education, work-study jobs, military readiness, law enforcement and public safety funds for crime prevention and prosecution, vaccines for children, public health and the STOP Violence Against Women program. 

READ MORE ABOUT THE CUTS ON PATCH: WHAT WILL ILLINOIS LOSE IN THE SEQUESTER?