Boehner Looks To Obama To Help Curb Sequester

Following the collapse of super committee negotiations, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is looking to the Commander-in-Chief to help curb automatic cuts in military spending. 

Though President Obama has already threatened to veto any bill that aims to soften the impact the nation’s defense budget, Boehner continued Thursday to push for curbed sequestration, citing repeated warnings from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta over the detrimental effects cuts would have on the Pentagon. 

“I really believe the president has some responsibilities here as well,” Boehner told reporters. “He is the Commander-in-Chief, he knows what those cuts will mean to the military.”

Boehner, who agreed to the across-the-board cuts when negotiating with Obama on increasing the debt ceiling, is facing growing pressure from his own conference to curb defense cuts. 

“There are a lot of members who are concerned about the defense cuts,” he said. “I understand the concern, but the president is the Commander-in-Chief… I believe there’s a role he plays in this process as well.”

Obama To Cut Federal Swag With Executive Order

President Obama will take matters into his own hands Wednesday by signing an executive order that will cut federal spending.

According to a statement released by the White House, the order will prevent federal agencies from “using taxpayer dollars to buy swag.”

The administration defines “swag” as “non-essential items used for promotional purposes.” Items like clothing, mugs, non-work related gadgets and “other unnecessary promotional items” will be removed from federal agency wish lists.

The order also puts limits on the number of “information technology devices” such as cell phones, smartphones, tablets and laptops federal agencies can provide for employees. Additionally, Obama will direct agencies to limit the amount of money spent on travel and will shrink the “executive fleet” of the federal government. The President takes cutting waste to a deeper level by stopping the unnecessary printing of documents and requiring agencies to post these documents online when possible.

“From the day I took office, I’ve said we’re going to comb the federal budget, line by line, to eliminate as much wasteful spending as possible… We can’t wait for Congress to act,” Obama said. “We’re cutting what we don’t need so that we can invest in what we do need.”

The White House has indicated that, within 45 days, agencies will begin to implement these changes, reducing costs up to 20 percent below FY2010 levels by FY2013.

Obama, Sarkozy Trash Netanyahu in Private

A French media organization says President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy both complained about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a private bilateral meeting that was mistakenly broadcast to a media conference room during last week’s G-20 summit in France. 

Web-based news site Arret Sur Image reported that while journalists sat waiting for Obama and Sarkozy to give a joint press conference last Thursday, a technical mistake allowed them to listen in on a closed door conversation between both Presidents over their translation headset devices.

According to Arret Sur Image, Obama first complained that Sarkozy hadn’t informed him that France would vote in favor of Palestinian membership to UNESCO. Sarkozy then told the President what he thought about Netanyahu.

“I can’t stand to see him any more, he’s a liar.”

Obama apparently responded: “You’re tired of him, but I have to deal with him everyday!” Obama then reportedly asked for Sarkozy’s help convincing Palestinian leadership to slow down its bid for membership at the United Nations. 

Arret Sur Image says that after translation headsets were inadvertently handed out, an announcement informed reporters in attendance that headsets had not been distributed to the press yet because they would allow them to listen in on the closed door conversation. 

Dozens of journalists reportedly rushed to put on their headsets and listened in on about three minutes of private discussion between Sarkozy and Obama before French officials realized what was going on and cut the audio. Arret Sur Image says the majority of reporters who overheard the conversation agreed not to broadcast or report on it.  

Paul Ryan Takes Aim At Obama, Defends GOP Budget Proposal

By Andrea Salazar

House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) accused President Obama today of “sowing social unrest” as he travels across the country promoting his jobs bill.

Ryan said that as a presidential candidate, Obama pledged to put politics aside to tackle the country’s problems. However, the chairman said the president has not followed his own advice.

“Instead of working together where we agree, the President has opted for divisive rhetoric and the broken politics of the past,” Ryan said during a speech at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. “He is going from town to town, impugning the motives of Republicans, setting up straw men and scapegoats, and engaging in intellectually lazy arguments, as he tries to build support for punitive tax hikes on job creators.”

Ryan later defended his budget proposal, which came under severe attack earlier this year by Obama and congressional Democrats. 

“The President has wrongly framed Republican efforts to get government spending under control as hard-hearted attacks on the poor,” Ryan said. “In reality, spending on programs for seniors and for lower-income families continues to grow every year under the House-passed budget – it just grows at a sustainable rate. We direct tax dollars where they’re needed most, and stop spending money we don’t have on boondoggles we don’t need.”

Instead of working toward “equality of outcome,” Ryan suggested working toward “equality of oportunity” by reforming the tax code, instead of raising taxes on the rich.

“Let’s stop trying to pick winners and losers in Washington, through the tax code or through spending, and just lower the rates and broaden the base so everybody’s treated the same and so that our companies are competitive,” Ryan said.

Poll: Americans Favor Jobs Plan, Taxing Rich

President Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans as a method of paying for the American Jobs Act has gained some considerable support from the American public, according to recent poll figures. 

A new poll released by Gallup found that seven in ten Americans favor increasing taxes on corporations by eliminating tax loopholes. Additionally, 66 percent also favor proposed tax rate increases on individuals earning more than $200,000 and families earning more than $250,000. 

Among conservative voters, 53 percent agree on eliminating corporate tax deductions while just 41 percent favor tax hikes on individual and household incomes. Comparatively, nearly 86 percent of Democrats and those leaning to the left favor hiked taxes on both entities. 

Additionally, poll figures found that Americans generally approve of the President’s jobs plan. Most notably, a proposal that would provide tax cuts for small businesses , which includes incentives to hire workers, garnered wide bipartisan support with Republican and Democratic voters, 84 and 87 percent, respectively.  

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted between Sept. 15-18 with a random sample of 1,004 adults over the age of 18.