Obama outlines his deficit-reduction policy

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Washington Times:

Seeking to reassert leadership on the deficit and reassure troubled financial markets, President Obama on Wednesday said $4 trillion can be cut from accumulated deficits by 2023, and told Congress to pass a “debt failsafe” trigger that would impose big cuts if the debt doesn’t begin to stabilize within three years.

Essentially tossing aside the budget he submitted just two months ago, Mr. Obama called for much deeper defense and domestic spending cuts and said while he will not trim benefit payment from Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, more money can be squeezed out of the latter two programs in other ways.

The president also called for undoing the Bush tax cuts for upper-income taxpayers, and for canceling other tax cuts many of them receive such as the mortgage interest deduction — which he called “spending reductions in the tax code.”

Mr. Obama’s comments, made in a speech on deficit reduction, marked a clear attempt by the White House to reclaim momentum in a spending debate that has gripped Washington in recent months as concerns over the nation’s long-term fiscal h

ealth have both parties sounding the alarm over a $14 trillion federal debt.

“Ultimately, all this rising debt will cost us jobs and damage our economy,” Mr. Obama said. “We won’t be able to afford good schools, new research or the repair of roads — all the things that create new jobs and businesses here in America. Businesses will be less likely to invest and open up shop in a country that seems unwilling or unable to balance its books. And if our creditors start worrying that we may be unable to pay back our debts, that could drive up interest rates for everyone who borrows money — making it harder for businesses to expand and hire, or families to take out a mortgage.”

The speech amounted to more of a framework than a detailed plan, but the president did call for reductions in most areas of government spending — sparing only Social Security.
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