President Obama
- original: 2,271 words
- summary: 231 words
Now, every family knows that a little credit card debt is manageable. The first approach says, let's live within our means by making serious, historic cuts in government spending. Let's cut domestic spending to the lowest level it's been since Dwight Eisenhower was President. Let's cut defense spending at the Pentagon by hundreds of billions of dollars.
The only reason this balanced approach isn't on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a cuts-only approach - an approach that doesn't ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all. Democrats and Republicans agree on the amount of deficit reduction we need. "Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? Understand - raising the debt ceiling does not allow Congress to spend more money. President Reagan did it 18 times. The House will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. Again, they will refuse to ask the wealthiest Americans to give up their tax cuts or deductions. Again, they will demand harsh cuts to programs like Medicare. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your Member of Congress know
House Speaker John Boehner
- original: 923 words
- summary: 105words
Before I served in Congress, I ran a small business in Ohio. Where most American business make the hard choices to pay their bills and live within their means, in Washington more spending and more debt is business as usual.
Here was the president, asking for the largest debt increase in American history, on the heels of the largest spending binge in American history.
What we told the president in January was this: the American people will not accept an increase in the debt limit without significant spending cuts and reforms.
The House has passed a bill to raise the debt limit with bipartisan support.
