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WASHINGTON - The United States has never defaulted on its debt and Democrats and Republicans say they don't want it to happen now. But with partisan acrimony running at fever pitch, and Democrats and Republicans so far apart on how to tame the deficit, the unthinkable is suddenly being pondered. The government now borrows about 42 cents of every dollar it spends. Imagine that one day soon, the borrowing slams up against the current debt limit ceiling of $14.3 trillion and Congress fails to raise it. The damage would ripple across the entire economy, eventually affecting nearly every American, ...
LOS ANGELES -- President Barack Obama headed west to sell his big picture deficit-reduction plan. But many people are waiting for a quick fix to their own economic problems caused chiefly by persistent unemployment and the crippled housing market. Audiences in California and Nevada understood why it's important to get a handle on the deficit over the long term. Yet they made clear that the economic recovery hasn't fully taken hold in ways that are meaningful to them. As Obama shifts into re-election mode, he will need to show that he hasn't lost his focus on jobs even as the conversation in ...
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says the nation's effort to curb ballooning deficits "can't exempt anyone." Obama spoke Thursday as he met with the co-chairmen of his deficit reduction commission, a day after laying out his blueprint for erasing some $4 trillion in red ink over 12 years. The commission was led by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton. It produced a plan for a similar amount of deficit reduction over 10 years. Obama tells reporters the country needs to ask everyone to participate in the effort to get ...
WASHINGTON -- Forcefully rejecting Republican budget-cutting plans, President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed lowering the nation's future deficits by $4 trillion over a dozen years and vowed he would not allow benefit cuts for the poor and the elderly to pay for tax breaks for the rich. "That's not right and it's not going to happen as long as I'm president," Obama declared. While the president recommended trimming health care costs in Medicare and Medicaid, he also called for cuts in defense, an overhaul of the tax system to eliminate many loopholes enjoyed by individuals and ...
WASHINGTON -- The White House says President Barack Obama is setting a goal of lowering the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years as he wades into the politically volatile debate over the nation's crushing debt. A week after formally announcing his re-election campaign, Obama is set to propose a mix of tax increases already rejected by Republicans, and cuts to safety-net health programs likely to alienate many liberals. In a speech Wednesday at George Washington University, the president also is expected to propose reducing defense spending and eliminating tax breaks and ...
WASHINGTON -- The head of an influential House Republican panel says he'll oppose the budget deal negotiated by the White House and Congress to avert a government shutdown. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said in a statement Tuesday that while some of his GOP colleagues will support the compromise announced late Friday night, he believes "voters are asking us to set our sights higher." Jordan heads the Republican Study Committee. He said the committee had pushed for a full $100 billion in cuts from President Barack Obama's budget. The deal negotiated by Obama, Speaker John Boehner and Senate ...
WASHINGTON -- The White House says President Barack Obama regrets his vote as a senator in 2006 against raising the debt limit. A fight over raising the debt limit is looming, and the White House is trying to explain away the apparent contradiction between Obama's previous opposition, and his position now that it must be increased. Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that Obama believes his vote was a mistake. He said Obama now realizes that the debt ceiling is too important to be trifled with. Republicans are threatening to withhold their votes to raise the ceiling unless Obama agrees ...
WASHINGTON - One budget deal down, President Barack Obama and Congress began to pivot Sunday from the painful standoff over this year's spending to a pair of defining debates over the nation's borrowing limit and the election-year budget. Much will be revealed at midweek, when the House and Senate are expected to vote on a budget for the remainder of this fiscal year and Obama reveals his plan to reduce the deficit, in part by scaling back programs for seniors and the poor. Across the dial on Sunday, messengers from both parties framed the series of spending fights as debates over cuts - a ...
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