Obama's Spending and Revenue Plan Already Dead in the Water

You can't be serious, says the House

President Barack Obama's proposal to delay sequestration appeared dead on arrival in the House — even before he announced it.

"I'm flabbergasted," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon told POLITICO ahead of the president's speech. "Until he addresses the real problem, which is mandatory spending, he's just whistling in the wind."

The president's proposal to put off mandatory spending cuts and push for more revenue through tax reform was the latest salvo in the never-ending fiscal battles, and Republicans have little appetite for any more revenue increases after the year-end tax-rate compromise. The across-the-board sequester cuts, which would reduce Pentagon spending by $487 billion over the next decade, were originally scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 2, but were delayed to March 1.