Obama warns on ‘dangerous game’ with debt ceiling
Washington: US President Barack Obama on Saturday warned congressional Republicans against what he called a “dangerous game” with the country’s economy as lawmakers prepared for a new battle over the national debt ceiling.
“As I said earlier this week, one thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they’ve already racked up,” the president said in his weekly radio & Internet address.
“If Congress refuses to donate the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic,” he pointed out.
Obama recalled that the US economy “suffered” & congressional Republicans clashed over national debt in 2011, a row that resulted in a downgrade of the US credit rating.
“Our families & our businesses cannot afford that dangerous game again,” the president said.
The United States reached its legal borrowing limit of $16.4 trillion on Monday. Now Congress has approximately two months to raise the debt ceiling to allow more government borrowing or risk causing the government to default on its bills & financial obligations.
A bipartisan “fiscal cliff” deal passed by Congress after in the week did not address the debt ceiling issue.
Republicans, who accepted this deal without any significant spending cut, are now demanding concessions on expenditures in return for allowing the ceiling to rise.
House Speaker John Boehner has warned the Republicans will ask for “significant spending cuts” & reforms of expensive programs like Social Security & Medicare that provide pensions & health care services for the nation’s seniors.
Obama said he was for spending cuts without shortchanging things like education, job training, research & technology.
“But spending cuts must be balanced with more reforms to our tax code,” he said. “The wealthiest individuals & the biggest corporations shouldn’t be able to take advantage of loopholes & deductions that aren’t available to most Americans.”
Source – Thenewstribe
