The agreement reached by congressional leaders and President Obama to raise the nation’s debt ceiling doesn’t go far enough in cutting government spending, Gov. Rick Scott said Monday.
A vote is expected as early as Monday on the deal, with the Senate planning to follow.
The tentative deal calls for what economists estimate will be more than $2 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years and creates a committee to recommend a deficit-reduction strategy before the end of the year.
Joining others on the right, Scott criticized the proposal as too timid. “They have not cut enough,” Scott said during an availability Monday morning with capital reporters. “The federal government’s got to live within its means….If we don’t, there’s a day of reckoning at some point.”
Perhaps Scott is oblivious, but most economists project that, with cuts already underway at the state and local government levels, the debt deal’s spending cuts more likely than not will slow already anemic economic growth and worsen unemployment.
As Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor has said, “The budget deficit is not the biggest obstacle to our prosperity. It’s the lack of jobs and growth.”
