President Barack Obama at a news conference Monday, said he is prepared to take significant heat from Democrats to get a deal on the debt limit and deficit reduction, but so far, Republicans were not prepared to give up anything.
Speaking after a Sunday evening meeting at the White House in which Republican and Democratic leaders failed to reach any agreement, Obama told reporters that he will not consider any short-term or temporary stop gap measure to the debt limit and deficit problem.
“We will resolve this for a reasonable period of time,” Obama said. “We must prove to the American people we can actually do something.”
Obama said that both sides should come together and use the opportunity to get something meaningful done on the debt limit and deficit. He added that the longer it takes for an agreement to be reached, uncertainty is being created for businesses.
Earlier, Obama had put on the table Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, which he said ought to be part of any deficit reduction plan in such a way that “would preserve the integrity of these programs and keep our sacred trust.” He has also agreed to spending cuts in defense, health care and other programs that he said he “likes very much, but which the country cannot afford right now.”
But Obama said that he could not accept a deal which placed the burden on people who can least afford it and did not raise revenues.
“If you don’t have revenues, it means you are putting a greater burden on people who can least afford it– and that’s not fair,” Obama said. “A balanced deal many not be what every one wants.”
Obama pointed out that he was not asking for tax increases this year or even next year, but rather starting in 2013 to get rid of tax loop holes. He added too that if this was not acceptable to Republicans, he had also proposed to work on tax reforms to bring tax rates down, but making them sufficiently progressive so that millionaires and billionaires pay a bit more.
“I have bent over backwards to work with Republicans to come up with a package,” Obama said.
Obama added that he did not see a path to a deal if Republicans don’t budge.
Negotiations on the debt ceiling and a deficit reduction package will continue at 2:00 p.m. today.
“We are going to meet every single day until we get this thing resolved,” he said.
