|
FoxNews.com
Boehner: U.S. Will
Not Default on Debt, But Congress Will Slash Spending
Published January 30, 2011
The United States will not default on its obligations, but must reduce
spending at the same time it raises its debt limit, House Speaker John
Boehner said Sunday.
Suggesting that lawmakers are willing to uncouple the debt ceiling from
the spending debate so that the U.S. doesn’t default on its loans,
Boehner said the Republican-led House will demand that an increase in
the debt limit is met with changes to the budget process so that
Washington’s spending spree “never happens again.”
“If the president is going to ask us to increase the debt limit, then
he’s going to have to be willing to cut up the credit cards,” he said.
“I think our team has been listening to the American people. They want
to us reduce spending, and there is no limit to the amount of spending
we’re willing to cut.”
But Boehner said suggestions that the U.S. go into default are a
non-starter.
“That would be a financial disaster not only for our country, but for
the worldwide economy,” he said. “You can’t create jobs if you default
on the federal debt.”
In order for the debt ceiling to rise, Congress must approve taking on
more debt, which currently is growing by more than $4 billion per day.
If it doesn’t approve raising the ceiling, then the U.S. will default
on its loans and lose its standing as the globe’s most reliable bet.
Congress is also grappling with a budget for the federal government,
which is operating on last year’s numbers since Congress never approved
a budget for the 2011 federal fiscal year that spans Oct. 1-Sept. 30.
During the lame duck session after last year’s midterm election,
lawmakers agreed to allow the 2010 spending levels to persist into
March, at about the same time the U.S. bumps the debt ceiling.
Meanwhile, President Obama is expected to release his fiscal year 2012
budget proposal on Feb. 14, the same week Republicans plan to bring up
for a House vote a budget proposal for the rest of the current fiscal
year.
In that budget, Republicans won’t insist on across-the-board cuts,
Boehner said, but the House Appropriations Committee will target
reductions at big-ticket items like eliminating remaining stimulus
spending, ending the bank bailout, getting the federal government out
of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and repealing the health
insurance law signed by President Obama last year.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the
Press,” said the president should not expect to get a budget signed
similar to the one he will submit.
“Our annual deficit is completely out of control. We’re gonna send the
president a lot less -- we’re going to allow him to sign on to a lot
less spending than he recommended the other night and is likely to send
us in the budget,” he said.
In a jab at unnamed predecessors, Boehner added that the amendment
process will be open so that everyone will have a say.
“I’m the speaker of the House -- speaker of the whole House. My job is
not to do what’s been done in the past and that’s to dictate what
members will get to vote on. We will allow the House to work its will
and we will,” he said.
The speaker said he’s also willing to have a conversation about
entitlements though that’s hard to do when Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid says Social Security is solvent. Congressional budgeters this week
announced Social Security accounts will no longer be in the black again
if current income and payout levels are maintained.
“If we can’t get Senate Democrats and their leader to recognize that
we’ve got real problems, I don’t know how we begin to move down this
path of having this adult conversation that I’d like to have and I,
frankly, like the president would like to have,” Boehner said.
“We know Medicare is on an unsustained path; they took a
half-a-trillion dollars out of it to fund this health care program that
they enacted,” McConnell added.
Boehner said Americans are waiting for Congress to look them in the eye
and be honest about how bad the problem is.
“Once that happens, we can begin to talk about an array of possible
solutions. And have that conversation. Then begin to develop a plan of
what’s doable to address the long-term concerns that we have in these
entitlement programs,” he said.
Read the story at Foxnews.com...
|
|
|
|
