And, the Republicans keep asking Obama to "make some cuts". Nice work if you can get it. US government doesn't work that way. Congress appropriates money by law to run the government. The president signs the appropriation bill. In principle he could veto a truly objecionable one, but somehow that never happens. Appropriation bills are law, the sequester is just a wish of Congress. Appropriate, or better don't appropriate, is the name of the game.
In short, if the Republicans want spending cuts, they have to pass them thru the House (which they control) and then dare the Democratic Senate to trashcan them. The Senate doesn't want to be accused of driving the economy over the fiscal cliff. For any reasonable bill, there will be a lot of pressure on the Senate to pass it rather than be left holding the blame.
Given a bill passed House and Senate, Obama will have to sign it, or take a lot of blame for all the things that are going to go wrong.
But it has to start with the House passing something. Asking Obama to make spending cuts is a waste of airtime. The House has to do it.
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