In not-so-coincidental timing, President Obama held a press conference on Wednesday morning, hours before meeting with Senate Democratic leaders on the status of debt ceiling negotiations. With the August 2 deadline to raise the debt limit looming, and the parties seemingly at an impasse, Obama used much of his hour with the press to shame Republicans into a resolution, both pounding his bully pulpit and cracking some jokes at their expense.
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Having long abandoned his preferred method of a clean, no-strings-attached vote to raise the debt limit, the president said that heโs willing to make more than $1 trillion worth of the spending cuts demanded by congressional Republicans. The savings, he said, were identified from a range of government programs. But the president will only agree to such a deal if Republicans also agree to eliminate tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
โWe canโt get to the $4 trillion in savings that we need by just cutting the 12 percent of the budget that pays for things like medical research and education funding and food inspectors and the weather service. And we canโt do it by making seniors pay more for Medicare,โ he said, adding that lawmakers must look at the whole budget, including defense, entitlement costs, and those tax cuts for the super rich.
โThe tax cuts Iโm proposing we get rid of are tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. Tax breaks for oil companies and hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners,โ he said. โIf we choose to keep those tax breaksโฆthen that means weโve got to cut some kids off from getting a college scholarship. That means weโve got to stop funding certain grants for medical research. That means that food safety may be compromised. That means that Medicare has to bear a greater part of the burden. Those are the choices we have to make.โ
Well, when you put it that wayโฆ
The president added that he believes Republicans are posturing, and will come around to his side. โWhat weโve seen in negotiations here in Washington is a lot of people say a lot of things to satisfy their base or to get on cable news, but that hopefully leaders at a certain point rise to the occasion, and they do the right thing for the American people. โฆ My expectation is that leaders are going to lead.โ
Furthermore, he argued that Republicansโ unwillingness to end the tax breaks is an unsustainable position. โIf everybody else is willing to take on their sacred cows and do tough things in order to achieve the goal of real deficit reduction, then I think it will be hard for the Republicans to stand there and say that the tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that weโre not willing to come to the table and get a deal done.โ
In response to the argument that the president is just employing scare tactics to pressure Republicans into raising the debt limit, the president maintained that there are economic consequences if the government defaultsโand itโs not merely his opinion.
โAugust 2 is a very important date, and thereโs no reason why we canโt get this done now,โ he said before launching into a comedic riff on the comparable maturity of the First Daughters:
โMalia and Sasha generally finish their homework ahead of time. Maliaโs 13; Sashaโs 10. They donโt wait until the night before; theyโre not pulling all nighters. Congress can do the same thing. If you know youโve got to do something, just do it!โ
Just in case his feelings werenโt clear enough, Obama followed up with another barb, suggesting that lawmakers cancel their congressional recesses and buckle down:
โIโm very amused when I start hearing comments about, โWell the president needs to show more leadership on this,โโ he said, ticking off the multiple meetings and outreach heโs put in with congressional leaders on the matter. โIโve already shown that Iโm willing to make some decisions that are very tough, and give my base of voters further reason to give me a hard time. But itโs got to be done. โฆ And if by the end of this week we have not seen substantial progress, then I think members of Congress need to understand that we are going to start having to cancel things. And start staying here until they get it done. Theyโre in one week; theyโre out one week. And then theyโre saying, 'Obamaโs gotta step in.' You need to be here! Iโve been here. Iโve been doing Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis. You stay here!โ
This all seems familiar. Back in April, during the countdown to the โgovernment shutdown,โ I predicted that the rigid, principled stands on both sides were largely kabuki dance and that theyโd strike a deal soon enough. Whatever the final resolution looks like wonโt leave either side thrilled, but I doubt the debt ceilingโs truly on the verge of collapse. What do you think?
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