With the IRS admitting to inappropriately targeting conservative groups – beginning back in 2011 – it’s worth taking another look at how the culture in Washington has been driven by politics even before this latest scandal.

Yesterday, the Defense Department announced it would have to furlough over 600,000 workers come July, claiming it “has no choice” because of the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester. Yet, other agencies have been able to find ways to make the required spending cuts without furloughing any employees.

President Obama claimed there was “no smart way” to cut $85 billion, yet the GAO just discovered that military services have spent more than $12 million to design new camouflage patterns.

White House “number crunchers” have now identified nearly $5 billion they can avoid cutting through recalculations and “arcane budget rules.” So cutting three cents on the dollar was impossible, but when it comes to finding new spending, the White House rolls out the number crunchers.

The blame game in Washington reached a new low yesterday when President Obama said that he shouldn’t have to tell Congress how to “behave” when it comes to the sequester. In light of the comments, Bankrupting America decided to take a look back at how the White House has been behaving when faced with cutting three cents on the dollar in government spending.

For months the White House has warned of the dire consequences of the sequester, maintained there is “no smart way” to cut spending and even threatened to veto a bill that would give them that flexibility. They were wrong.

Today, we salute you, lawmakers in Washington. No one can knowingly avoid fixing the sequester for two years, then panic when it goes into effect quite like you can.