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Obama: Sequester cuts a ‘prescription for American decline’

by Jesse Byrnes - 10/03/15 6:00 AM ET

President Obama is keeping pressure on Congress to pass a long-term budget agreement that undoes the sequester cuts currently in place.

“A few years ago, both parties agreed to put in place harmful, automatic cuts that make no distinction between spending we don’t need and spending we do,” Obama said Saturday in his weekly address.

{mosads}He argued that the cuts stifle the pace of economic growth, mentioning spending levels for education as an example of the impact on Americans.

“That’s not good for our kids or our economy. It’s a prescription for American decline, and it shouldn’t happen,” Obama said.

“We should invest in things like education today, or we’ll pay the price tomorrow.”

Obama said he would not sign another short-term spending bill like he did earlier this week, echoing points from a press conference at the White House on Friday in which the president accused Republicans of being gimmicky and threatening a shutdown.

Government funding is set to expire Dec. 11 after the latest agreement, and Obama said Friday he has already entered into initial talks with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is retiring soon.

Obama reiterated Saturday, after vowing he wouldn’t debate the need to raise the debt limit again, that passing anything other than a long-term budget agreement “just kicks the can down the road without solving any problems or doing any long-term planning.”

Tags Barack Obama