White House: Make These "Cuts" Hurt, Dammit!

This demonization and fear-mongering crap is really getting old. But, hey, it's the Chicago Way™.

Today's designated villain is, apparently, anyone who thinks the federal government should be able to competently manage a small cut to the rate of increase in spending.

The Obama administration denied an appeal for flexibility in lessening the sequester’s effects, with an email this week appearing to show officials in Washington that because they already had promised the cuts would be devastating, they now have to follow through on that.

In the email sent Monday by Charles Brown, an official with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service office in Raleigh, N.C., Mr. Brown asked “if there was any latitude” in how to spread the sequester cuts across the region to lessen the impacts on fish inspections.

He said he was discouraged by officials in Washington, who gave him this reply: “We have gone on record with a notification to Congress and whoever else that ‘APHIS would eliminate assistance to producers in 24 states in managing wildlife damage to the aquaculture industry, unless they provide funding to cover the costs.’ So it is our opinion that however you manage that reduction, you need to make sure you are not contradicting what we said the impact would be.” (emphasis added)

Got that?

King Barack I proclaimed that the world would end on March 1, and by God you'd better do your part, Federal Bureaucrat No. 73842135/J.

The King has also decreed that his subjects will no longer be able to visit the Royal Palace due to "staffing reductions". Here's a list of all the employees who were let go:

On a related note, His Majesty feels awfully set upon by those dastardly Republicans who hate him more than they love their country. Or something.

So deeply ingrained is the animus aimed at Barack Obama that conservative lawmakers would rather put Americans out of work, sabotage valuable contracts for small businesses, and eject preschoolers from Head Start classrooms rather than give the president a legislative “win.”

The president himself made that argument Friday while explaining why across-the-board spending cuts could not be averted by March 1, and why he would now spend weeks or months, if necessary, working to get Congress to reverse what he called “dumb” budget policy.

posted by Andy at 03:11 PM

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