Letter to The President

Letter

Two House Democrats are circulating a letter this week vowing to protect the round of automatic cuts that will go into effect with the failure of the supercommittee to present a deficit-cutting proposal to Congress.

The letter from Reps. Peter Welch of Vermont and Jim Himes of Connecticut says that unless Congress passes a deficit plan totaling at least $1.2 trillion, the cuts -- split evenly between defense and domestic programs -- should stand.

"The failure of Congress to act must have consequences," wrote the congressmen, who will try to collect more signatures this week.

Even before the Nov. 21 end to the 12-member supercommittee, lawmakers had talked about trying to unravel the spending cuts that were meant to add pressure to the panel's 12 members to reach a deal.

GOP defense hawks such as Arizona Sen. John McCain and California Rep. Buck McKeon have said they are readying legislation to block Pentagon cuts. And Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) is also introducing a bill that would undo the Medicare cuts mandated by the trigger.

President Barack Obama, however, has said that he would veto any attempt to dismantle the cuts.

The text of the letter, after the jump:

Dear Mr. President,

With the failure of the supercommittee to reach a deficit reduction agreement, we write in full support of your view that the sequester scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2013 should not be repealed absent an agreement to reduce deficits that exceeds the amount to be sequestered. The failure of Congress to act must have consequences. We stand ready to work with you over the next year to put America back on a firm financial footing and will vote to sustain your veto of any effort to repeal all or part of the scheduled sequester.

Sincerely,

Peter Welch

Member of Congress

James Himes

Member of Congress

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