Malloy joins critics of GOP on budget impasse

WASHINGTON -- Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other Democratic governors got a pep talk Friday from President Obama about the impact of the looming March 1 sequestration, and they joined in pinning the blame for the impasse on Republicans.

Malloy, in town for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, told reporters that Obama was finding it difficult to negotiate with congressional Republicans.

"There is no leadership in the Republican Congress or the Senate and maybe that's the big problem -- there's nobody to deal with anymore," Malloy said, adding that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have problems within their own party caucuses.

Some Republican lawmakers are adamantly opposed to Obama's approach to the budget deficit, saying the president doesn't want to cut spending sharply enough but instead wants to rely on tax increases. They've also expressed anger that, in their view, he's unfairly portraying them as the side that is refusing to compromise.

Malloy stood bare-headed in sleet and freezing rain outside the White House as he and other Democratic governors -- Peter Shumlin of Vermont, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Martin O'Malley of Maryland and John Hickenlooper of Colorado -- held a news conference after meeting with Obama.

Shumlin, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said Democratic governors should urge Republican governors to press their GOP colleagues in Congress to adopt the Obama approach.

The message to Republican governors, he said, is: "Speak up! Don't be part of the problem."

The NGA convenes here Saturday for two days of conferences.

Sequestration means that $85 billion in phased federal spending cuts kick in starting March 1. The reductions are the result of a 2011 law that Obama and Congress enacted as a draconian incentive for the administration and Congress to reach agreement on a deficit-cutting plan. Lacking an agreement, sequestration would kick in automatically.

No agreement has been reached.

chuck@hearstdc.com

Source: http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Malloy-joins-critics-of-GOP-on-budget-impasse-4301450.php

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