Pres. Obama Calls For a Balanced Approach on Debt Ceiling

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Last night President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner gave back to back addresses to the nation updates us on debt ceiling issue. President Obama said there are two plans: one of which is a balanced approach that cuts government spending, set modifications to social security and medicare so that people can continue to rely on them, and increase government revenue, that is increase taxes on the rich. This plan is largely opposed by the Republicans in the Congress because they support the second plan, which calls for just cutting government spending, no revenue increases at all. To compensate for no revenues, US government would have to cut DEEPER cuts - cuts that could potentially eliminates programs like Social Security! This is clearly not a balanced approach, yet the Republicans proudly standby it. In fact the public agrees with President Obama's balanced approach. As the debt ceiling debate drags on, a new CNN/ORC International Poll reveals a growing public exasperation and demand for compromise. Sixty-four percent of respondents to a July 18-20 survey preferred a deal with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. Only 34% preferred a debt reduction plan based solely on spending reductions.

The debate right now isn’t about whether we need to make tough choices. Democrats and Republicans agree on the amount of deficit reduction we need. The debate is about how it should be done. Most Americans, regardless of political party, don’t understand how we can ask a senior citizen to pay more for her Medicare before we ask a corporate jet owner or the oil companies to give up tax breaks that other companies don’t get. How can we ask a student to pay more for college before we ask hedge fund managers to stop paying taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries? How can we slash funding for education and clean energy before we ask people like me to give up tax breaks we don’t need and didn’t ask for?

Learn more at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/07/25/president-obama-deficit-reduction-requires-tackling-entitlements-and-tax-reform