With his blueprint for an extensive debt-ceiling deal slashed by Republicans, President Obama sought to gain the political high ground Monday by portraying GOP lawmakers as unmovable participants in a dangerous game of chicken as the deadline to raise the U.S. borrowing limit looms. Though Obama used his bully pulpit to press for a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, he also positioned himself as a pragmatist who has been unable to dissuade ideologically rigid Republicans to compromise in the name of avoiding economic peril.
“I don’t see a path to a deal if they don’t budge, period,” Obama said during a rare appearance in the White House briefing room.
It is a preview of a message the president is likely to tap in the wake of whatever deal emerges around the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
Obama is banking that such a move will insulate him from criticism over an agreement that will likely be far less expansive than a White House proposal that fell apart when Republicans balked over new taxes.
“Let’s step up. Let’s do it,” the president said, adding that he would not sign off on any “stopgap” measures to increase the debt ceiling. “I’m prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done, and I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing if they mean what they say.”
Obama had hoped to cobble together support for a $4 trillion deal that would have included new tax revenue and cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security over the next decade. However, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, backed out of the discussions.
“The president continues to insist on raising taxes, and they’re just not serious enough about fundamental entitlement reform to solve the problem for the near to intermediate future,” Boehner said. “I want to get there. I want to do what I think is in the best interests of the country. But it takes two to tango, and they’re not there yet.”
The president will meet with congressional leaders again at the White House on Tuesday.
However, the two camps appear no closer to an agreement, a point underscored by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who declared, “We are not going to raise taxes. That’s all.”
The president did not dig in on the $4 trillion figure during lengthy remarks, instead calling for “the largest possible deal,” an apparent tacit acknowledgment that the White House proposal was dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled House.
According to a Democratic official familiar with the deficit talks, Obama is willing to raise the Medicare eligibility age as long as it was part of a comprehensive and balanced deal to slash spending.
Republicans are pushing for roughly $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years and no tax increases.
It was the second time in recent weeks that Obama took his case to the public from the presidential podium in hopes of portraying his political adversaries as the impediment to a critical deal. “Now is the time to deal with these issues; if not now, when?” Obama said. “What I’ve said to them is, ‘Let’s go.’ ”
