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Pres. Obama: Spending freeze will address Dems' contribution to deficit
President Barack Obama on Wednesday acknowledged his proposed spending freeze would not "dig us out" of the country's trillion dollar deficit "overnight," but he said it would at least cover "whatever happened on my watch."
During Obama's meeting with the Senate Democratic Caucus, the president described his recommended cap on non-defense spending as a way to "pay for the recovery act and other extraordinary steps we took last year."
Obama characterized that lingering sum as a byproduct of President George W. Bush's White House, which he said had reversed the surplus President Bill Clinton helped create.
"Whatever spending I had to take that was extraordinary, that you took with me... we will have taken care of, paid for, what happened on our watch," Obama said, adding "every dollar counts." "But what we will not have solved is [our remaining debt]."
The president's line on Wednesday is a direct response to Republicans and Democrats alike, many of whom have criticized his proposed spending freeze as insufficient.
Democrats fear the freeze could severely hamstring social programs at a time they say voters need them most. Meanwhile, some Republicans charge the freeze arrives on top of a slew of new spending increases, some of which have been made permanent by last year's federal stimulus.
But Obama disputed that latter reaction in particular on Wednesday, stressing the cuts that GOP lawmakers would prefer could prove debilitating to most Americans.
"In order for us to balance the budget, while exempting entitlements, building revenues, you'd have to cut non-discretionary defense spending by 60 percent," he told Democrats, noting the need for a bipartisan debt-reduction commission. "That's everything -- student loans, NASA, veterans programs -- you name it, we'd have to cut by 60 percent."
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