WASHINGTON — President Obama cast ongoing
negotiations over raising the nation’s debt ceiling in moral terms
Wednesday, asking if Republican members of Congress are prepared to
deprive students of college scholarships or compromise food safety
inspections in order to preserve tax breaks to wealthy oil companies and
owners of private jets.
The president used an East Room news conference to
gain leverage in difficult discussions with Republican leaders, who’ve
balked at proposals to pare the deficit by raising tax revenue. Obama
called for an approach in which each side compromises en route to a deal
that would clear aside opposition to lifting the nation’s $14.3
trillion debt limit by an Aug. 2 deadline.
“Democrats have to accept some painful spending cuts
that hurt some of our constituents … and we’ve shown a willingness to
do that for the greater good,” the president said.
He said Republicans have not negotiated in the same
spirit. Instead, they’ve eschewed a “balanced” plan in favor of deep
spending cuts that would protect tax breaks for wealthy constituents, he
said.
“If everybody else is willing to take on their sacred
cows and do tough things to achieve the goal of real deficit reduction,
then I think it would be hard for the Republicans to stand there and
say the tax break for corporate jets is sufficiently important that
we’re not willing to come to the table and get a deal done.”
Negotiations hit an impasse last week when top
Republicans pulled out of deficit reduction talks with Vice President
Joe Biden, saying that the White House’s insistence on tax increases
amounted to a deal-killer.
Obama is now directly engaged in the talks, which are
crucial to a vote on raising the debt limit. Many members of Congress
say they won’t vote to raise the debt ceiling absent major reductions in
the nation’s deficits. Should the United States fail to raise the cap,
the Obama administration said the U.S. would default on its debt with
catastrophic implications for the nation’s bond rating and its status as
an economic superpower.
Obama painted a stark image of the winners and losers
under the debt deal favored by Republicans. Oil companies that are
already making money “hand over fist,” he said, would continue to
receive taxpayer subsidies while “a bunch of kids out there are not
getting college scholarships.”
Medical research would be undermined and food
inspection would be weakened if the Republicans pursue their “maximalist
position,” the president said.
“If you’re a wealthy CEO or hedge fund manager in
America right now your taxes are lower than they have ever been,” Obama
said. “They’re lower than they’ve been since the 1950s, and you can
afford it. You’ll still be able to ride on your corporate jet. You just
have to pay a little more.”
He added: “It would be nice if we could keep every
tax break there is. But we’ve got to make tough choices here to reduce
our deficit.”
He urged Congress to spurn vacations if necessary and
stay in Washington to continue negotiations. He said he wants to avoid
the brinksmanship surrounding the negotiations in the spring to stave
off a government shutdown.
Personalizing the issue, Obama noted that his two
young daughters, Malia and Sasha, manage to get their homework done in
time. If they can do it, so can Congress, he said.
He added that he’s stuck around town.
“I’ve been here,” he said. “I’ve been doing
Afghanistan and (Osama) bin Laden and the Greek crisis. You stay here.
Let’s get it done.”
Obama held the news conference at a moment when the
economy appears stagnant. The next monthly jobs report is due July 8,
but there was widespread disappointment in a report covering the month
of May, which showed unemployment had edged up to 9.1 percent. Employers
added only 54,000 new jobs that month, less than half the number needed
to keep pace with population growth.
The price of gas has dropped over the past month, but
a gallon of unleaded still averages $3.54 — 28 percent higher than one
year ago.
All this has taken a toll on Obama’s job approval
numbers. A CBS News/New York Times poll released Wednesday showed that
only 39 percent approve of Obama’s management of the economy, compared
to 52 percent who disapprove.
Political analysts from both parties said the economy
trumps every other issue in the 2012 election. And Republicans hope to
make the race a referendum on Obama’s record when it comes to job
creation. Speaking to reporters this week, Republican National Committee
Chairman Reince Priebus rejected Obama’s optimistic take on the
nation’s economic course.
“This isn’t a bump in the road or a turnaround, but a
3-year-long trend of failed economic policies that are quite frankly
bankrupting the greatest nation on the face of the earth,” Priebus said.
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(c) 2011, Tribune Co.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
