Sequester: A Washington Shell Game

What we saw this week were the same old scare tactics by President Obama, using the power of his office to instill fear in the American public with regards to the sequester. 

Standing in front of a group of first responders, saying that their jobs are at risk, is a lie. As we all know, a majority of those first responders’ salaries are paid for by local county and state governments through taxation. However, the image that President Obama was trying to convey is that your house would burn down if sequestration happened. 

Let’s look at how we got here to begin with. If you read Bob Woodward’s book The Price of Politics, you will get the play-by-play account of how sequestration was conceived in the backrooms of power.

Woodward’s book illustrates the fact that the then-Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew (now Obama’s Treasury Secretary nominee), along with White House Legislative Director Rob Nabors, came up with sequestration and introduced the plan to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. 

According to the book, Reid hated the plan but went along with it because, as Washington does so frequently, they just kicked the can down the road without solving the issues.

America is rapidly approaching $17 trillion in debt, and we need real solutions to get our exploding debt under control. One plan being touted by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) would freeze hiring on all new federal employees. 

In 2011, around 60,000 people retired from the federal government. It is estimated that if the federal government does not replace the annual retirements, $6.5 billion may be saved in one year alone and between $60 billion to $200 billion over ten years. 

This is a simple solution that Congress should take a serious look at. If Congress does not have the backbone to implement this hiring freeze, what will they ever cut?

As next week progresses, do not be fooled by the doom and gloom coming out of the Obama Administration that is only amplified by their allies in the liberal media. Government must be shrunk, but President Obama only wants to expand the size and scope of government. Real reforms need to take place now or future generations will suffer.