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Obama knocks GOP on debt limit; says US not a 'deadbeat nation'


Auburn85

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http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/276967-obama-demands-congress-raise-164-trillion-debt-ceiling

President Obama at a Monday press conference demanded that Congress raise the nation’s $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, saying the country is “not a deadbeat nation.”

Obama said Congress should pay the bills government has already rung up, arguing would be disastrous for the economy — which he said is showing signs of lifting off — to not raise the debt limit.

“It would be a self-inflicted wound on the economy,” he said. “To even entertain the idea of this happening … is irresponsible. It's absurd.”

The president has insisted he will not negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling, and gave no sign of wavering on that position.

Republicans are demanding steep spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit.

“They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy,” Obama said Monday of Republicans.

Rather, he said he would be happy to discuss deficit reduction with both parties separate from the looming threat of the debt limit. But even then, he insisted that increased revenues would have to be part of the equation.

“We can’t finish the job of deficit reduction through spending cuts alone,” he said. While open to “modest adjustments” to entitlement programs, Obama said, “we need more revenue through tax reform.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) responded to Obama’s remarks with a statement that said the White House and its allies “need to get serious about spending, and the debt-limit debate is the perfect time for it.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed the House would pass legislation that increases the debt limit and cuts spending.

“The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time,” he said in a statement.

“The consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling are real, but so too are the consequences of allowing our spending problem to go unresolved.”

Voting to raise the debt limit has always been politically precarious, and the president voted against raising the limit himself in 2006 when he was in the Senate. But Obama maintained that the 2011 debt-ceiling fight represented new and dangerous territory.

“We have never seen the debt ceiling used in this fashion, where the notion is, ‘You know what, we might default unless we get 100 percent of what we want,’ ” he said.

Obama laid the responsibility for raising the limit with Congress, which he also blamed for the accumulation of obligations that required the borrowing.

“Raising the debt ceiling does not authorize more spending, it simply allows the country to pay for spending that Congress has already committed to,” he said.

Obama also cast aside the idea that the White House could do anything on its own to get around congressional action.

Some have argued that the president could cite the 14th Amendment and ignore the debt limit, or mint a massive platinum coin to cover spending needs. Obama rejected anything other than an increase to the limit, saying there were no “magic tricks” to avoid the ceiling.

“I understand the impulse to try to get around this in a simple way, but there’s one way to get around this,” he said. “And that is for Congress to authorize me to pay for those items of spending that they have already authorized.”

Underlying the president’s remarks was a frustration with how Washington policymakers have struck deals, setting off pressing deadlines with new deadlines down the road, creating a fresh set of ticking clocks to loom over the nation and its economy.

After avoiding the “fiscal cliff” at the end of 2012, Washington immediately turned its attention to the debt-limit fight, as well as a possible government shutdown in March when legislation funding the government expires. And Congress still needs to decide how to handle automatic sequestration cuts, which were delayed for two months as part of the fiscal-cliff deal.

“We’ve got to break the habit of negotiating through crisis over and over again, and now’s as good a time as any,” Obama said.

The debt limit has already been reached, and “extraordinary measures” by the Treasury Department that allow the U.S. to pay its bills are expected to be exhausted as soon as mid-February.

Obama warned that if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, Social Security checks might not go out and troops overseas might not be paid. He also said investors would lose confidence in the economy and markets could crash.

“If congressional Republicans refuse to pay those bills on time, Social Security checks and veterans' benefits may not be paid,” Obama said. He also warned that military troops may not be paid, along with other key government employees like food inspectors and air traffic controllers.

“Investors around the world will ask if the United States of America is, in fact, a safe bet,” he said. “Markets could go haywire, interest rates could spike.”

And to think Obama was willing to play politics with the debt ceiling while he was a Senator, but it's not ok if anyone else does it.

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