A feisty President Obama on Wednesday laid blame for stalled deficit talks at the feet of congressional Republicans, urging them in an often lecturing tone to “do their job” and compromise on a debt deal or risk catastrophic economic results. Obama, in his first solo news conference at the White House in more than three months, was hardly interested in playing peacemaker over derailed budget negotiations but rather sought to challenge Republicans to “take on their sacred cows” and end tax breaks for oil companies and wealthy corporations and taxpayers.
He said that GOP resistance to any revenue increases would create an impasse capable of producing a “severe shock to the economy and world financial markets.”
“At a certain point they need to do their job,” Obama said of raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit by Aug. 2. “This is a hard deadline. They’re in one week; they’re out one week. … You stay here. Let’s get this done.”
Obama, speaking from the East Room, repeatedly portrayed Republicans as being on the side of “tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires,” saying that ending tax loopholes for major corporations isn’t “real radical” but an idea “the majority of Americans can agree with.”
“My belief is that the Republican leadership in Congress will hopefully, sooner rather than later, come to the conclusion that they need to make the right decisions for the country — that everybody else has been willing to move off of their maximum position,” he said. “The expectation is that they’ll do the responsible thing.”
Obama took to the bully pulpit after Republicans in last week walked away from deficit talks led by Vice President Biden. Obama said the so-called Biden group had identified more that $1 trillion in savings — the president previously called for $4 trillion in savings over the next decade.
However, Republican lawmakers remain resolute that any deficit compromise should be limited to spending cuts.
“The president is sorely mistaken if he believes a bill to raise the debt ceiling and raise taxes would pass the House,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “The votes simply aren’t there — and they aren’t going to be there, because the American people know tax hikes destroy jobs.”
The hour-plus press conference was a rare, wide-ranging question and answer session for the president, and he fielded inquiries on the airstrikes in Libya, gay marriage and the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan.
The president defended his use of military force in Libya despite lacking congressional approval — critics say he is in violation of the War Powers Act — calling it a limited mission against a tyrant, Moammar Gadhafi, who is willing to massacre his own people.
He also called New York’s passage of gay marriage “a good thing,” reminding his supporters that his administration overturned the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell ban on gays serving openly in the military. He also called the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.
However, the president refused to reveal if he now supports same-sex matrimony, saying, “I’m not going to make news on that today.”
