The Democrats' sequester proposals: You can't be serious

Members of Congress left Washington on Friday for their annual Presidents Day state (or district) work period, planning to resume toward the end of the month. The break means Congress can't do anything about the looming sequester -- roughly $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts -- until days before it's scheduled to begin taking effect on March 1.

By Jon Healey

February 15, 2013