This would bring the country to a place where by the middle
Were Obama to come out in favor of benefit reductions, the argument wholesale feather hair extensions might lose some of its potency.
Obama appears to have rejected requests from fellow Democrats to rule out cuts in Medicare benefits. But aides said he intended to draw a firm line: No such cuts without accompanying revenue increases from the well-to-do.
“There are Medicare beneficiary adjustments in this plan,” a senior White House aide said. “But what the president is saying is he’s not doing those if Republicans are unwilling to ask the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share.”
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco praised Obama’s call for overhauling the tax code, but she underlined her support for entitlements.
In a statement Sunday night, she said she was “encouraged by the president’s focus on the need for tax reform that calls on all Americans to contribute their fair share” but said Democrats “remain committed to strengthening Medicare and Medicaid.”
Pelosi called for “a balanced approach that addresses the No. 1 concern of Americans — jobs.”
During the recession and two wars, the nation’s total debt has ostrich feathers hair extensions soared.
When George W. Bush took office in 2001, the debt was less than $6 trillion. By the time Obama took office, it was $10.6 trillion, and this year it passed $14 trillion.
If Congress adopted Obama’s plan, the debt would start shrinking, White House aides said.
“This would bring the country to a place where by the middle of this decade, current spending is no longer adding to our debt — that debt will be falling as a share of the economy,” a White House aide said. “And deficits on a year-by-year basis will be a sustainable level so that we maintain that.”
Changes in Medicare benefits carry enormous implications for the 2012 elections. Over the last week, congressional Democrats have privately urged the White House to leave Medicare benefits intact.
Curbing Medicare could undercut an argument Democratic candidates hope to use in next year’s election. Democratic strategists believe the party’s candidates can gain traction by highlighting Republican efforts to convert Medicare into a voucher program in which the government would give seniors a fixed amount to buy insurance, and seniors would be responsible for the costs it didn’t cover.
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