President Obama has invited congressional leaders from both parties to the White House when the House and Senate return next week “so we can start to build consensus around the challenges that we can only solve together.”
“And I also intend to bring in business and labor and civic leaders from all across the country here to Washington to get their ideas and input as well,” Obama said in afternoon remarks flanked by a friendly crowd in the East Room.
Though Obama talked about sweeping plans from education and job training to clean energy and infrastructure, the leaders will need to address the looming fiscal cliff of tax hikes and massive sequestration cuts.
“Last year, I worked with Democrats and Republicans to cut a trillion dollars’ worth of spending that we just couldn’t afford. I intend to work with both parties to do more — and that includes making reforms that will bring down the cost of health care so we can strengthen programs like Medicaid and Medicare for the long haul,” he said.
But the president isn’t abandoning his quest to raise taxes on the upper income brackets. And Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said tax hikes are a no-go.
“As I’ve said before, we can’t just cut our way to prosperity,” Obama said. “If we’re serious about reducing the deficit, we have to combine spending cuts with revenue — and that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes. That’s how we did it in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton was president.”
The vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee said the negotiations should focus on “growing the pie instead of on how we divide it.”
“As we address the looming fiscal cliff, we must avoid any action that would hamper economic growth. Instead, we must accelerate growth,” said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas).
“This ‘slow and low flying’ recovery remains the weakest on record since World War II. Real GDP is $1.2 trillion lower than it would be if this recovery had just been average,” he continued. “Strong private sector growth would generate the tax revenues under current rates to reduce our budget deficit substantially.”
“I fundamentally reject the idea that the only way to avoid the fiscal cliff is to raise taxes and jeopardize job creation. Without a bold plan to bring spending under control and get our economy growing, we will be right back at the edge of this cliff in just a matter of years. I am not interested in short-term political deals. We need a long-term solution,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“The bottom line is that we can’t tax, or even cut, our way out of this. The only way to solve this is through economic growth,” Rubio added. “…Nothing that I’ve seen during the past two years has invalidated the free enterprise miracle I have seen throughout my life.”
The sequestration deal, which Obama signed, contains both tax increases and spending cuts. It’s the “balanced approach” Obama keeps talking about. Time to get out of the way and let Obama’s Balanced Approach go forward. He won. It’s his plan. He gets it.
And can we please stop calling Obama’s Balanced Approach the “fiscal cliff’. Why do we always adopt the left’s names for everything?
Agreed. $500B is NOT a cliff in a $15T economy. Its hardly a haircut.
I agree Forest. He has now won and the Reublicans need to work with the Democrats to make President Obamas’ plan become reality. President Clinton did it best and proved we could reduce the deficit and he increased taxes on the top 1% and it was fine. So why is it so unheard of now with President Obama. Did we forget the Republicans moved into the White House with a clean slate and in 8 years they perpetuated a recession. But we want to blame President Obama for this mess. Wow, what short term memory some folks in America have when they just don’t want to admit there on prejudices. Regardless he is back in for 4 more years and hopefully the congress and senate can work together along with the president to fix the mess this country is in. Marco Rubio is simply preparing to run in 4 years but guess what if Republicans don’t come to the middle they will never win the support of women, Hispanics, gays, lesbians and the blacks. Guess what you need all of their support in order to win a Presidential election and it was just proven 3 days ago to be true. The Republicans had better reassess their strategies or whom ever the democrats approve in the next election will also win.
The deficit was reduced during the Clinton years because the Republican House controlled the purse strings. And the Republicans didn’t move into the White House with a “clean slate.” The economy was in recession by the time Bush took the oath. Investments and earnings had been stagnant for a year. The tech bubble had burst and there were even more ominous bubbles waiting in the wings. I blame Obama only for the mess he created which is considerable.
“…and in 8 years they perpetuated a recession.”
Thats not an accurate assessment. The collapse under the Bush administration came about from three decades of bad legislation. More notably the rapid consolidation of major economies, the loss of our manufacturing base which was forced offshore to be globally competitive and on down the line. The loss of our mfg base was replaced during the Clinton era by an unviable service based economy. They wrote legislation to prop up yet another unsustainable manufacturing and mortgage economy in housing — two usustainable bubble economies. They collapsed!
Of course, its far more complex than these few lines indicate, but the bottom line is that both parties perpetuated bad legislation and folks can arggue over who wrote the most bad legislation lending the most weight to the economic collapse.
ZEKE – You are 100% correct! Back in 1997 when I was searching for Mortgage Rates [Notice I said 1997] I was offered the chance to pay only 3% under Federal Program [Fannie/Freddie]. I declined because in the long run it didn’t sound feasible to me [as interest rates could go up dramatically -[ARM]it was a gamble I was not willing to take.]
Everything as far a the housing bubble started long before Bush became President. To change anything under his Presidency would have sent the Liberals and those dependent on Government Programs Fannie/Freddie into a more venomous tail spin – because even those who cannot afford, nor pay back a Home Loan should be “entitled” to the “American Dream” of Home Ownership…
Bush’s misfortune was that the Bubble Burst on his watch… of which he did try to warn the Congress…of which Barney Frank et al swore that Freddie and Fannie were ‘solvent’-no worries here…?!?? Yea, Right… [How convenient the left/Dems should forget 'that' statement!!]
Even our illustrious President Obama made a statement to a young lady at a ‘town hall meeting’ in PA – “there are people who “should be renting” as opposed to owing [a home]“…
they should put it all on CSPAN, that’s what candidate Obama said in 2008 – and never did. NO PRIVATE TALKS.
Try it. Hope and Change.
– will debate him.
The Balanced Approach that is already signed will raise taxes on everyone who pays taxes, but that’s good because it’s fair. People will have more skin in the game. It’s patriotic to pay more taxes.
******************COMPROMISE*********************
Thats going to be the only item on the menu for some time going forward. Not sure how the compromise will be sliced and diced but it will be compromised product.
The ‘majority’ of Americans across all party lines have had enough of a disfunctional government in these times of economic crisis. Far to many folks forget that by the very construct of the founders constitution, the governments of our republic are to legislate through a means of compromise. Otherwise we’d be talking about our King/Queen and their court today.