Faced with a looming deadline to undo $1.2 trillion in sweeping, mandatory cuts to the federal budget, President Barack Obama Tuesday asked Congress to instead pass a package of short-term spending cuts and tax changes in order to avoid what he called “self-inflicted wounds from Washington.”

Almost as soon as Obama proposed the package, though, he was rebuffed by congressional Republicans who called even the possibility of tax increases a non-starter.

Obama didn’t detail a proposal but indicated instead that he wanted Congress to pass a “small package” of spending cuts and tax reforms to delay the effects of mandatory cuts expected to go into effect March 1.

“Deep, indiscriminate cuts to things like education and training, energy and national security will cost us jobs, and it will slow down our recovery,” Obama said. “It’s not the right thing to do for the economy; it’s not the right thing for folks who are out there still looking for work.”

If Congress does not act by March 1, most federal discretionary spending — including spending on everything from airport security to food inspectors — will face across-the-board cuts of nearly 10 percent. In all, the government is scheduled to cut $1.2 trillion out of the federal budget within the next 10 years, with almost half of that coming out of the Defense Department.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said those cuts would gut the budgets for each of the armed services and inflict serious damage on installations such as Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, as well as defense contractors around the state.

But instead of gathering momentum for delaying the mandatory cuts, known as sequestration, Obama’s announcement seemed to move the two sides further apart. The stalemate is a familiar one, with Democrats opposing steep spending cuts and Republicans lining up against further tax increases.

Obama “will have to provide a more serious proposal than warmed over tax increases to fix this mess,” said Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, who voted against the proposal in 2011. He said the cuts have left the military and Defense industry facing an “uncertain future.”

“We cannot afford to gamble with the defense of our nation,” he said.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., said Obama “insisted” the cuts become law.

“Republicans have twice voted to replace these arbitrary cuts with common-sense cuts and reforms that protect our national defense,” he said. “We believe there is a better way to reduce the deficit, but Americans do not support sacrificing real spending cuts for more tax hikes.”

Suburban Columbus Republican Rep. Pat Tiberi called Obama’s comments “rhetoric” and said the true drivers of the debt are entitlements, which Obama is loath to examine. Republicans, he said, don’t like the arbitrary nature of the cuts, but they realize that the federal government must stop spending.

Republicans have increasingly indicated that they are likely to let the cuts go through – not because they appreciate the method, but because it meets their goal of cutting spending.

But economists have warned that the cuts could be disastrous. A study by a George Mason University economist commissioned by an aerospace industry group predicted the spending cuts could result in 2.14 million lost jobs, including 40,403 jobs lost in Ohio.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, was at a Senate Democratic retreat Tuesday but said through his spokeswoman, Meghan Dubyak, that he favors “program-by-program decisions rather than the automatic, across-the-board cuts that would come through sequestration. Sen. Brown believes a balanced approach is needed to reduce the deficit while promoting job creation and economic development,” Dubyak said.