White House

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President Obama answers a reporter's question as he meets with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 22, 2013. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood briefs reporters regarding the sequester on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, at the White House in Washington. (Associated Press)

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President Obama speaks on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at the White House about the sequester as he stands with emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of budget cuts. (Associated Press)

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Alan K. Simpson (left) and Erskine Bowles, leaders of the White House’s defunct debt commission, are asking lawmakers to cancel the sequesters and embrace a $2.4 trillion deficit-reduction plan they proposed Tuesday. (Associated Press)

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associated press White House press secretary Jay Carney circles around reporters’ complaints about being kept at bay when President Obama was in Florida.