Lame GOP Gov Response to Sequester, Wisconsin's Scott Walker Edition
I'm quoted in this piece from the Wisconsin Reporter on Gov. Scott Walker's response to the sequester (more on that in a moment). Matt Kittle reports that in his weekly radio address, the conservative governor was hedging on whether the sequester was a good thing for the Dairy State:
"I asked President Obama to offer a more reasonable alternative to the arbitrary cuts contained in the current sequestration plan," Walker said. "So far, the President has resisted offering a reasonable alternative."
The governor said he will "continue to put pressure on the President and politicians in D.C. to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in our federal government in a way that makes sense and avoids the type of arbitrary cuts contained in the current sequestration plan."
What is the governor's "reasonable alternative?" Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie repackaged part of Walker's radio address in answering the question.
"Governor Walker believes cutting fraud, waste and abuse in the federal government would be better than moving forward with the arbitrary cuts contained in the current sequestration plan," Werwie wrote in an e-mail response to Wisconsin Reporter. He provided no details.
Well, sure. Let's cut all waste, fraud, and abuse in spending. But that should always be the order of the day, shouldn't it? To his credit, Walker still opposes the Medicaid expansion in Obamacare, which would bring more federal bucks to Wisconsin (though in a way that will undoubtedly increase state-level spending over time) and he scotched a truly useless high-speed rail package.
Some state pols say bring on the sequester:
At a press conference Thursday, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, told Wisconsin Reporter he hopes the sequester goes through.
"We need more [cuts in spending]. People realize we have a problem, and it's about time we face up to it," said Vos, who also blamed Obama for his what he sees as the president's intransigence, asserting Obama needs to "lead and find consensus" as Vos says he has done as speaker.
Kittle's piece summarizes some of my writing on the topic and adds this quote from me on the issue:
"I think one of the things that has to happen for the Republican Party to face any kind of rebirth is they are going to have to face how deeply they're on the public teat at every level and root that out," Gillespie said.
Related: Small-Government GOP Governors Getting All Pissy About Sequester.