WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday made an
aggressive pitch for his $3 trillion deficit-reduction strategy,
promising to veto any proposal that fails to raise revenues by asking
wealthy Americans to “pay their fair share.”
“We are not going to have a one-sided deal that hurts the folks who are most vulnerable,” Obama said.
Obama
said his plan would seek $1 in new revenues for every $2 in cuts. At
its core is a plan to raise $1.5 trillion in new revenues through an
overhaul of the tax code.
Of that, $800 billion
would come from the expiration of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for
upper-income Americans; the other $700 billion consists of revenue
increases achieved by closing loopholes, limiting deductions for those
earning more than $250,000 a year and getting rid of tax breaks for oil
and gas companies.
As part of any changes to tax
law, Obama is calling on lawmakers to follow a principle the
administration calls the Buffett rule: No one earning more than $1
million a year should be taxed at a lower rate than middle-income
households.
Speaking in urgent tones from the Rose
Garden at the White House, Obama rejected Republican arguments that his
proposals amount to “class warfare,” saying it comes down to “math.”
“It
is wrong that in the United States of America a teacher or a nurse or a
construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than
somebody pulling in $50 million,” he said, adding that anyone who
opposes that principle “should be called out.”
“It
comes down to this: We have to prioritize,” he said. “Both parties
agree that we need to reduce the deficit by the same amount, by $4
trillion. … Either we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair
share in taxes or we’re going to have to ask seniors to pay more for
Medicare. We can’t afford to do both.”
Obama is
presenting his recommendations to a congressional “super committee” that
is considering a deficit-reduction package of its own. The 12-member
committee, an outgrowth of the debt-ceiling negotiations over the
summer, is charged with putting out a bill that will go to Congress for
an up-or-down vote. The committee must complete its work by Nov. 23.
His
plan for lopping $3 trillion from the deficit is on top of the
approximately $1 trillion in spending cuts that he signed into law in
August, after reaching a deal with Republican congressional leaders to
lift the nation’s debt ceiling.
On Monday, Republicans swiftly responded to the president’s proposal with opposition.
“Veto
threats, a massive tax hike, phantom savings and punting on entitlement
reform is not a recipe for economic or job growth — or even meaningful
deficit reduction,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “The
good news is that the joint committee is taking this issue far more
seriously than the White House.”
“Pitting one
group of Americans against another is not leadership,” House Speaker
John Boehner added. “The joint select committee is engaged in serious
work to tackle a serious problem. … Unfortunately, the president has
not made a serious contribution to its work today.”
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