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The
Hill
Republicans:
Obama State of the
Union dims hopes for deficit-reduction deal
By Alexander Bolton
02/13/13
Republican
lawmakers say a deal to
reduce the deficit and replace $85 billion in automatic spending cuts
set to take
effect on March 1 is even less likely after President Obama's State of
the
Union address.
While
Obama tackled the deficit
head-on in his speech, mentioning the word "deficit" 10 times at the
top of his address, Republicans accused him of paying lip service to
the debt
in a speech that called for a higher minimum wage and new spending on
programs
Obama said were designed to lift people out of poverty.
Republicans
say the president
hasn't met his own goals for reducing the deficit, noting Obama’s
pledge four
years ago to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term — a
pledge
that has gone unfulfilled.
"The
president said we do not
need a bigger government, but a smarter government, and I agree. But
actions
speak louder than words,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
(R-Va.).
"For
four years, we have seen
record deficits and mountains of debt heaped on our children and
grandchildren.
And for four years we have seen little to no action from President
Obama or his
Democratic colleagues in the Senate to take our spending problem
seriously,”
Cantor added.
Senate
Republicans sounded just as
skeptical.
“He
has said that over and over and
over,” said Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), a co-sponsor of the only
comprehensive
bipartisan tax-reform plan in the Senate.
“What
really counts is not what is
said in the State of the Union or an inauguration address or a press
conference
in the White House. What really counts is the actual action that is
taken and
the president’s engagement in making that happen,” he said.
Republicans
flatly rejected Obama's
demand that they replace the $85 billion in spending cuts with a
package
comprised equally of spending cuts and tax revenues, a call reiterated
by Obama
on Tuesday. The impasse leaves the sequester more likely than ever to
go into
effect on March 1.
Read
the rest of the article at The Hill
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/282763-republicans-state-of-the-union-dims-hopes-for-deficit-deal
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