By A.J. Bayatpour, updated on: 09:10pm, March 2, 2013

 

GLENDALE (WITI) — $85 billion in federal spending cuts are set to take effect as of 12 a.m. Saturday, March 2nd if Congress cannot come up with a deal to avoid them. The cuts are part of the “sequestration.”

 

Republican Congressman Paul Ryan explained sequester to a crowd at the Snap-On headquarters in Kenosha on Friday, March 1st. The former vice presidential candidate known for his fiscal acumen says this could have been avoided — if Democrats were willing to compromise.

 

“After the House passed legislation preventing the sequester and replacing it with other cuts, I thought the Senate might do the same and unfortunately, they didn’t,” said Ryan.

 

Democrat Gwen Moore, speaking at a town hall event in Glendale, says many of her Republican colleagues were never too concerned about avoiding the sequester in the first place.

 

“Many Republicans see this as a first down payment on their ultimate desire to just shrink the size of government so much so you can drown it in a bathtub,” she said.

 

Moore also blames Republicans for the failed negotiations, saying they refused to allow another tax hike on the wealthiest Americans. When asked about the tax hike approved during fiscal cliff negotiations, Moore said that compromise only came after major cuts were proposed by Democrats.

 

“Before those tax hikes finally came up, there was $1.5 trillion in cuts,” she said, “So what they really want is something that is not balanced at all. They want more cuts, more austerity.”

 

State Senator Alberta Darling (R – River Hills) says Republicans are right to focus on spending over revenue.

 

“I agree with Representative Moore; we have to be responsible about the cuts but we can’t have it both ways. We can’t keep increasing taxes and increasing spending,” Darling said.

 

Ryan says he supports a plan that would give the president the power to carve out where that $85 billion would come from.

 

Some Democrats have called that a political move designed to absolve Republicans of any blame for the cuts, which will be made across the board.

 

The White House created a web site that lays out its plan to avoid the arbitrary sequester cuts and includes what it calls the “final offer to Speaker (John) Boehner.”

 

 

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