The president's aides said he will continue pushing for $4 trillion in debt cuts over the next decade at today's 6 p.m. meeting; they called it a "balanced" plan with both budget cuts and new revenues from the elimination of tax breaks for the wealthy. Obama "didn't come to this town to do little things," said White House Chief of Staff William Daley on ABC's This Week With Christiane Amanpour. "He came to do big things."
Congressional Republicans said their members will not provide enough votes for any debt reduction plan that includes higher taxes, citing the nation's 9.2% unemployment rate. "We think it's a terrible idea," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Fox News Sunday. "It's a job-killer."
The White House and Republicans are negotiating budget cuts as part of a deal to raise the government's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. That goal has a deadline of Aug. 2, the day the Treasury Department says it will not longer be able to bills it has already rung up. Daley and McConnell spoke the morning after after Boehner issued a statement late Saturday saying, "despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes." Boehner said he spoke with Obama by phone on Saturday.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer quickly responded to Boehner with a statement saying that debt reduction is imperative, but "we cannot ask the middle-class and seniors to bear all the burden of higher costs and budget cuts." Pfeiffer said the president wants "a balanced approach that asks the very wealthiest and special interests to pay their fair share as well, and we believe the American people agree." The White House says its revenue plan ends loopholes and breaks for wealthy Americans such as oil company magnates, hedge fund managers, and private airplane owners.
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