ABC News
President Obama today outlined a revamped plan to reduce the nation's debt by more than $2 trillion in new deficit reduction through tax increases and entitlement reforms, asking "everybody to do their part so that nobody has to bear too much of the burden on their own."
The plan, however, will likely be deemed dead on arrival by Republicans, who have vowed to reject tax increases as part of any plan to bring down the deficit.
"We can't just cut our way out of this hole," Obama said today in the Rose Garden. "It's going to take a balanced approach. If we're going to make spending cuts … then it's only right that we ask everyone to pay their fair share."
The bulk of the savings in the president's plan come from $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction through new taxes for high-end earners and $580 billion in cuts to entitlement programs, including $248 billion to Medicare and $72 billion to Medicaid.
The president's recommendations for the congressional "super-committee," which is already tasked with identifying $1.5 trillion in cuts by Thanksgiving, are an attempt to quell criticisms that he has failed to offer a detailed outline of his vision for a "balanced approach" to deficit-reduction.
"Everybody, including the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, have to pay their fair share," the president said.
In total, the president's plan will claim more than $4 trillion in deficit reduction through entitlement cuts, tax increases and war savings, in particular, including $1.2 trillion in savings from the Budget Control Act and $1.1 trillion from drawing down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While the proposal is likely to please Obama's Democratic base, the president is seeking to draw contrasts with Republicans and force them to align with corporations and the wealthy. Obama made clear today that he will veto any plan that seeks to cut the deficit through spending cuts alone and does not include tax increases as well.
The move puts the White House at odds with Republicans who have already spoken out against the president's plan to raise taxes, calling it "class warfare."
Republicans are specifically taking issue with the president's "Buffet Rule" proposal. Named for the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, the rule means those making more than $1 million a year would not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay.
Buffett told ABC News in 2010 that "people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we've ever had it."
Republicans reject that argument. "Class warfare will simply divide this country more. It will attack job creators, divide people and it doesn't grow the economy," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said on FOX News Sunday. "Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agreed, mocking the Buffet argument in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." "If he's feeling guilty about it, I think he [Buffett] should send in a check. … But we don't want to stagnate this economy by raising taxes," he said.
President Obama is also proposing other means to raise taxes, including more than $800 billion from allowing the Bush tax cuts for upper-income earners to expire and $300 billion from closing loopholes and eliminating special-interest tax breaks.
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