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The debate over how to get this country's fiscal house in order rages on, as does the related debate over how to prop us the U.S. economy.
President Obama on Monday laid out his plan to save nearly $3 trillion over the next 10 years. His plan includes a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases.
But the increase in revenues has Congressional Republicans up in arms because the President's proposal would raise $1.5 trillion in taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations. Earlier this year House Republicans vowed not to support a budget deal or debt-ceiling deal that included takes hikes.
On Monday, President Obama drew his own proverbial line in the sand: "I will not support any [deficit] plan that puts all the burden on ordinary Americans," he said during his address at the White House Rose Garden. "We are not going to have a one-sided deal that hurts the folks who are most vulnerable."
Included in Obama's proposal is also a so-called Buffett rule, which is designed to make sure that those making $1 million a year or more pay the same percentage of their incomes in taxes as middle-class Americans. (See: Steve Forbes Hates Obama's "Millionaire's Tax"?And Not Just Because It Hammers Millionaires)
Speaker of the House John Boehner, along with many fellow Republicans, chided the President for this proposal, calling it a form of "class warfare."
The Daily Ticker met up with Speaker Boehner at the Republican National Committee headquarters to get his reaction to the President's proposal and veto threat.
"I'm just concerned that raising taxes at this point in our economy ? where it is so weak ? is really the wrong prescription. America has a spending problem and what we need to do is attack the spending problem we have," he says in the accompanying video. "I think we will send a signal to employers and investors throughout the country and for that matter throughout the world that America is serious about dealing with its spending problem."
Boehner also commented on, and agreed with, President Bill Clinton's notion that in order to have a strong U.S. economy, you have to have a strong partnership between the public and private sector. (See the exclusive interview with President Clinton here: President Bill Clinton: Yes, the American Dream is Under Assault)
"I just think if you really want to have a strong economy that you have got to have business leaders and government leaders on the same page working together," says Boehner. "[But] I don't see that happening today and I certainly don't hear that from employers around the country."
Boehner points to the resulting government uncertainty as one big driver of slow economy growth.
"There is no question that the private sector in America right now sees all of this uncertainty coming out of Washington: new rules, new regulations and no idea what the tax rates are going to be at the end of next year," he says. "I was with a group of employers in my own district yesterday who are very concerned about investing more in their business at a time of great uncertainty and I think government needs to help bring some certainty."
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