White House: Reducing Budget Deficit Top Priority in 2011
President Obama will make reducing the budget deficit a top priority in 2011 and will roll out ideas for doing so immediately following the November elections - regardless of how Democrats fare - according to the White House.
"The president will put some ideas and some issues on the table and we'll see if the Republican Party is serious about meeting him halfway," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs at the Reuters Washington Summit on Monday, adding that any potential shift in the congressional power dynamics resulting from the elections would have no bearing on Mr. Obama's plan.
"Regardless of the (electoral) outcome, of what the numbers are the next day, they are not going to be able to just say, 'No,'" he said.
Gibbs emphasized that taking on the projected $1.4 trillion deficit would entail making hard decisions, and challenged Republicans to join in the cause. "There is no doubt that we are going to have to make, Democrat and Republican, some choices on the medium- and long-term fiscal picture," Gibbs said.
In a speech last night, Mr. Obama condemned Republicans for recent efforts to extend Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy, saying that "these folks aren't serious about the deficit."
Gibbs called on the Republicans for bipartisan support in the administration's attempts to balance the budget: "You have heard the other side talk almost exclusively about spending for 20 months, but at some point they are going to have to come up with some concrete proposals," he said.
Gibbs also said that education reform would be another high priority for Mr. Obama in the new year.
