"Fed Chair Bernanke Warns Lawmakers Sequester Could Slow Economic Recovery" PBS Newshour 2/26/2013
Excerpt
GWEN IFILL (Newshour): The federal government moved another day closer today to $85 billion in automatic spending cuts. And as political charges and countercharges flew, Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke raised new fears about the potential economic fallout.
The Fed chairman told a Senate committee that forcing across-the-board spending cuts could slice half-a-percentage point off economic growth.
BEN BERNANKE, Federal Reserve Chairman: I think an appropriate balance would be to introduce these cuts more gradually and to compensate with larger and more sustained cuts in the longer run to address our long-run fiscal issues.
GWEN IFILL: Bernanke said the sequester was supposed to be a doomsday weapon designed to spur compromise.
BEN BERNANKE: It was done to be sort of like "Dr. Strangelove," you know, the bomb that goes off. So, obviously, if you can find a way to, you know -- in a bipartisan way to make it more effective and better prioritized, that would be a good thing.
Significant excerpt
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, R-Ohio, Speaker of the House: Now, the American people know the president gets more money, they're just going to spend it. And the fact is, is that he's gotten his tax hikes. It's time to focus on the real problem here in Washington, and that is spending.
NO KIDDING! That is what government (local, state, federal) is mandated to do with tax income, which is government's paycheck. That is what I do with my paycheck, spend it.
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