Fox News' Ed Henry Battles Jay Carney in Tense Exchange Over Sequester's Impact on Border Patrol

Things got testy between Fox News reporter Ed Henry and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney during a daily press briefing Tuesday as the two debated the impact of the sequester.

Henry pressed Carney to explain why Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano previously claimed that America would be less safe due to the sequester, which she argued would force border patrol agents to be furloughed, only to delay any furloughs. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency on Monday said it would be postponing the furloughs that were supposedly inevitable.

"What is a fact is that when you are dealing with these kinds of across-the-board, forced budget cuts in the middle of a fiscal year and you're having to make all sorts of adjustments to account for them and reduce your expenditures accordingly, it is a moving picture," Carney explained. "That's just a fact."

Carney then mocked Henry, saying "feel free to convey to your viewers and readers that the sequester doesn't matter."

"I didn't say it didn't matter," Henry shot back. "The secretary came in here and said we were going to be less safe, that people were going to be crossing the border because there are less border patrol agents. Then they announce yesterday that, 'actually we're not doing that.' I'm not saying it's not important, I'm saying, did she mislead the public?"

"Absolutely not," Carney replied. "I mean, you are editorializing it enormously in that."

Henry then quoted Napolitano on the sequester and the dire impact it would allegedly have on border security.

Carney argued that there are "reductions" due to the sequester. "Talk to those who have been laid off…talk to those who have been furloughed," he added.

Watch the tense exchange below:

Featured image via AP

(H/T: Fox Nation)