PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Chafee, a Republican-turned independent, expressed frustration on Wednesday at his former party for the lack of a congressional deal so far to avert the so-called "sequester," which is widely expected to take effect Friday.
"The election is over. The president won. There is a time to fight and a time to move the country forward," he said of Republicans at an unrelated event at the Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick on Wednesday morning.
Like other governors, Chafee also voiced concern about the potential impact of the federal budget cuts to Rhode Island's slowly recovering economy.
"This is the wrong way to conduct business in the country, just when we are trying to get our economy going and invest in education, transportation and infrastructure and workforce development," he said. "To have cuts in these areas just doesn't make sense."