ROLL CALL: John Boehner: Democrats Willing to ‘Tank Our Economy.’

Speaker John Boehner charged Democrats today with being willing to “tank our economy” to secure a “small business tax hike” in response to vows by top Democrats that they will use scheduled defense spending cuts as leverage on taxes.

“Has it come to this, that Democrats are willing to hurt jobs and tank our economy for the sake of a small business tax hike that would also have disastrous consequences?” Boehner said in a written statement.

Senate Democrats said they see no political downside to leaving the issue of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending to both defense and domestic accounts until after the November elections, as they try to use the cuts as leverage with Republicans to negotiate on tax increases on the wealthy

“We structured the sequester in a way that would be more comfortable for us than for Republicans,” a senior Senate Democratic aide said.

Of course you did.