In Rose Garden speech, Obama says Americans need to choose between solving deficit crisis by raising tax rates for wealthiest Americans or paying for it “on the backs of middle class families and the poor.”
Vows to “veto any bill that changes any benefits for those who rely on Medicare” without tax increases on millionaires and corporations.
Declares both parties need to work together “on a separate track” to deal with Social Security reforms.
Obama: “During this past decade, profligate spending in Washington, tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and the cost of two wars turned record surplus into yawning deficit.”
On failed “grand bargain,” Obama says Boehner walked away, end result “wasn’t all that grand.”
Obama warns “if we don’t act, the growing debt will crowd out everything else.”
To ask companies bailed out by TARP to repay government.
Vows to not allow deficit to be used as an “excuse to turn Medicare into a voucher program.”
Declares both parties need to work together “on a separate track” to deal with Social Security reforms.
President: “We can’t just cut our way out of this hole.”
Says lawmakers who pledge to defend tax loopholes need to defend themselves to their constituents.
Obama: “I reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare.”
Says “unacceptable to the American people,” to settle for “second-class” infrastructure.
