Local lawmakers weigh in on sequester

Without a plan to deal with the sequester, both of Wisconsin's senators and a Northeast Wisconsin congressman left Washington for the weekend.

Congressional members from Wisconsin have already turned their focus to next week, hoping to make the best of the looming cuts.

“I think this is the moment of truth for President Obama,” said Republican Senator Ron Johnson in a phone interview with FOX 11.

Senator Johnson is currently in Florida for to give a speech. He says the future is in the president's hands.

“Hopefully the president will reach out, and in good faith work with use to restrain spending. I believe what the House is going to do is craft a bill that give him maximum flexibility so he can manage the process and minimize the disruption, minimize the pain on the American economy and people,” said Johnson.
    
Republican Congressman Reid Ribble, 8th District, left Washington Thursday afternoon.
    
Ribble says he's not surprised a deal was not reached.

“This bill was put into place in August of 2011. 18 months ago. There's been plenty of time for this administration to plan for it. We could have done something with this sooner, but politics ruled the day,” said Ribble in a phone interview.

Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin says Republicans failed to embrace compromise.
    
Baldwin declined to do an interview, but sent FOX 11 the following statement: "We need to put an end to the political gamesmanship in Washington that is forcing us to drift from one budget crisis to the next.  Instead we need to focus on growing our economy, strengthening the middle class, and taking a responsible approach to reducing the deficit without shortchanging our future."

Congress is expected to reconvene on Monday.
 
Republican Congressman Tom Petri's office, 6th District, tells us he elected to stay in Washington for the weekend.    
    
He told FOX 11 in a statement: “The budget needs to be cut—no question about it.  But, rather than going through with haphazard across-the-board cuts under sequestration—which would penalize successful programs in addition to ones that ought to be cut—a better way might be to allow these reductions to be made in a more flexible way by federal agencies and departments.”