U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday called automatic spending cuts that were to take effect later in the day “dumb, arbitrary," and warned that they would begin hurting the middle class and the overall U.S. economy. At a White House news conference after talks with congressional leaders, Obama blamed Republican lawmakers for failing to prevent the spending cuts, known as a sequester. He said he hoped that Republicans, after hearing complaints from their constituents about the impacts of the cuts, will return to negotiations, but he said that might take weeks or months.
