Rep. King criticizes vacation for Obama daughters

Speaking on a radio program, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, ripped into President Obama for sending his daughters, Sasha and Malia, on a vacation while the federal government is being squeezed by the so-called sequester.

ThinkProgress, a progressive blog, reports that King was speaking on the "Mickelson in the Morning" program. A listener named Carla called in and began to reprimand Michelle Obama for vacationing in the Bahamas with her two daughters.

"It's hard to stomach. When we're tightening our belts, we should either all do it or none of us do it," she said, referring to sequestration – the recent round of automatic spending cuts that went into effect earlier this month when Congress and President Obama failed to reach a budget agreement.

Earlier this week, conservative news outlet Breitbart.com reported that the girls were on spring break, and named the resort where they were staying.

King agreed with the caller, saying, "Carla, you're on point and on the mark all the way through." King then went on to mention that the girls vacationed in Mexico the year before.

"He sent the daughters to spring break in Mexico a year ago," King said, referring to President Obama. "That was at our expense, too. And now to the Bahamas at one of the most expensive places there. That is the wrong image to be coming out of the White House."

The Obamas pay for family vacations themselves. But critics complain that those costs do not include security measures.

King, who is mulling over a Senate bid in 2014, has been an outspoken critic of President Obama for years. During the 2008 presidential campaign, King predicted that should Obama beat John McCain, "then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 ..."