Hatch: Obama's deficit-reduction plan is 'embarrassing'

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) called President Obama’s deficit reduction proposal “embarrassing.”

“The proposal offered by [Treasury] Secretary [Timothy] Geithner was embarrassing,” Hatch said on the floor Wednesday. “I think it’s time for the president to start leading.”

Obama introduced his deficit-reduction plan last week, which called for $1.6 trillion in tax increases and $400 billion in cuts to entitlement programs, plus a new $50 billion stimulus plan.

Hatch said Obama’s numbers don’t add up, because the plan supported by Senate Democrats would raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year — only generating around $300 billion according to Hatch. Hatch said Republicans "support tax relief for everybody."

“It is the president’s math that does not work,” Hatch said.

Hatch said the counteroffer Republicans proposed, which reduces the deficit by $2.2 trillion and raises $800 billion in revenue through eliminating tax deductions, wasn’t different enough to risk going over the “fiscal cliff.”

“The difference between the president’s plan and what we’ve proposed, the difference is at the most $68 billion,” Hatch said. “And we’re going to go over the cliff over that? ... I hope not.”

Lawmakers are working on a deficit-reduction plan to avoid the "fiscal cliff," which is set to take place at the beginning of next year when Bush-era tax rates expire and sequestration cuts take effect.

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