NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Rep. James Sensenbrenner charged Thursday that the Obama administration is plotting a “shameful” course by implementing budget cuts in a way that threatens the nation’s security.
The Wisconsin Republican told delegates attending the CPAC convention on Thursday that the decision to release 500 criminal illegal aliens in an effort to comply with sequestration cuts that went into effect last week “denigrates the national security and personal security.”
He predicted of those released: “No one is going to find them again.’’
The administration’s decision, he said, represents “a risk” despite assurances from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that none of those released are considered violent. Ultimately, he said, the situation represents a “danger to the people of the United States of America.”
“The first job of the government is to protect the persons or property the government represents,” he said.
Sensenbrenner has long been outspoken in his opposition to liberalizing the nation’s immigration laws in any way. During the administration of President George W. Bush he introduced legislation that would have made being an illegal alien a felony, undermining efforts then under way to revamp immigration laws.
In a wide-ranging address, Sensenbrenner said the sequester was not something “dreamed up by those nasty, negative Republicans.” Rather, he noted it was President Obama.
“We’ve seen the president go off on a whole litany of terrible things,” to such an extent that “it makes Chicken Little look like she’s underestimating.” He chided the administration for failing to deploy aircraft carriers to critical positions around the globe, insisting that former President Ronald Reagan – whose name has been raised repeatedly throughout the convention – would have found a way to address the situation despite budget cuts.
He praised the federal budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, as “prudent,” while asserting that the competing spending plan released by Ryan’s counterpart in the upper chamber, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), is “worse than anything I’ve ever seen.”
The Murray plan, he said, fails to balance the budget – something Ryan accomplishes in 10 years – while it “raises taxes to the tune of $1 trillion” and makes an insufficient number of spending cuts.
“One of the messages the American people have said again and again and again is that it’s the spending,” Sensenbrenner said. Regardless, President Obama and Senate Democrats are looking for “the second tax increase to be enacted in the last three months.”
“It’s like a stuck record,” he said. “He fooled the American people once. He fooled the American people twice. Now we can’t afford to let him fool the American people a third time.”
He added that Republicans must “talk in the people’s language” to capture the White House and the Senate and retain control of the House.
“We have to win the hearts, we have to win the minds and we have to get the votes of the American public,” he said.
(Don’t miss Next Generation’s members-only coverage of CPAC 2013 — featuring former Congressman Allen West and Michelle Fields. Click here to learn more.)
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