{"id":13168,"date":"2013-02-20T18:43:35","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T18:43:35","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-02-20T18:43:35","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T18:43:35","slug":"obama_s_sequester_flip_flop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/02\/20\/obama_s_sequester_flip_flop\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama\u2019s Sequester Flip-Flop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, the Pentagon has just informed Congress that it will be furloughing its civilian workforce of 800,000 employees if sequestration goes into effect on March 1st. Now, the sequestration is $85 billion. So roughly half of that is defense, and that\u2019s $42.5 billion. We spent $50 billion on Hurricane Sandy refusal efforts, or we\u2019re going to. I think in his State of the Union that Obama proposed $83.4 billion in new spending. People have forgotten this. The sequester is roughly $85 billion.<\/p>\n

The world is gonna come to a screeching halt, all kinds of pain and suffering will result, and 800,000 civilian employees will be furloughed. “Defense officials have warned lawmakers that sequestration will devastate the military and lead to a hollow force, but the civilian furloughs will be one of the first major impacts felt by the across-the-board cuts. The Pentagon furloughs will affect civilians across the country. Pentagon officials have said that civilians could face up to 22 days of furloughs, one per week, through the end of the fiscal year in September. The employees would receive 30 days notice before being furloughed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“‘We are doing everything possible to limit the worst effects on DOD personnel, but I regret that our flexibility within the law is extremely limited,\u2019 Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wrote in a message to the department. ‘The president has used his legal authority to exempt military personnel funding from sequestration, but we have no legal authority to exempt civilian personnel funding from reductions.'” So 800,000 defense workers, civilian defense workers will basically be laid off if the sequester happens.<\/p>\n

Now, they have known that the sequester was coming since August of 2011. This is all such smoke and mirrors. It\u2019s so classic, the fear tactics, the fearmongering. Grab the sound bite. I want you to hear it in Obama\u2019s own words. This is November 21, 2011, at the White House, Obama speaking about the budget and talk of the Congress passing a bill to not have the sequester. In fact, the Congress has passed a couple of bills that would prevent the sequester, but they haven\u2019t gotten anywhere in the Senate.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Obama said about anybody who might try to stop the sequester…<\/p>\n

OBAMA 2011: My message to them is simple: “No.” I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts, domestic and defense spending. There will be no easy off ramps on this one.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s a year ago, a little over a year ago. That\u2019s Obama at the White House talking about the sequester and if anybody tries to stop it, he\u2019s gonna veto the bill. “There will be no easy off ramps…” So today the Pentagon says, “Yep, 800,000 civilian workers furloughed,” and Obama says, “Well, that\u2019s just the way it\u2019s gonna be.” (interruption) “Will they collect unemployment insurance?” Of course they\u2019ll get unemployment insurance. There is no problem. It\u2019s just a scare tactic!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s… (interruption) Oh, come on! “What if nobody notices anything is different in the sequester?” That\u2019s one of the things I\u2019d like to see. I\u2019d like to see the sequester happen. I want to see all these 800,000 furloughs because I don\u2019t believe it. I want to see the sky fall. I want to see it! Here. Let\u2019s go back to Obama. You just heard November of 2011 where he promised to veto any effort to stop the sequester. This was Obama yesterday…<\/p>\n