?The American people do not support raising the debt ceiling without reducing government spending at the same time,? House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. ?The consequences of failing to increase the debt ceiling are real, but so too are the consequences of allowing our spending problem to go unresolved.
?Without meaningful action, the debt will continue to act as an anchor on our economy, costing American jobs and endangering our children?s future,? the Ohio Republican said. ?The House will do its job and pass responsible legislation that controls spending, meets our nation?s obligations, and keeps the government running ? and we will insist that the Democratic majority in Washington do the same.?
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the Obama White House must get "serious about spending and the debt limit is the perfect time for it.?
And Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn said that a government shutdown was a possibility if cuts to such entitlement programs as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are not part of any debt-ceiling agreement.
?We are going to look at all of these options,? Blackburn told MSNBC.
?There is the option of a government shutdown. There is an option of raising the debt ceiling in short-term increments.
Blackburn said that her constituents would support having the government closed, which would occur by March 27 if House Republicans did not extend the spending threshold.
?Yes, they are. Yes, they are,? she told MSNBC. ?They want us to be thoughtful in what is done and this is the good thing. You know, maybe it?s better to keep it open so we can keep cutting it.
?What we want to do is look at all of these ramifications,? Blackburn added. ?If we were to do the shutdown, exactly what is going to continue ? who is going to hold the purse?
?What we want to make certain happens is that we in the House maintain control of the federal purse, that we are judicious and that we are exercising good stewardship in making these cuts and spending reductions,? Blackburn said.
GOP sentiment was nearly universal on shutting down the government to get Obama to agree to entitlement cuts.
?It is possible that we would shut down the government to make sure President Obama understands that we?re serious,? House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington told Politico. ?We always talk about whether or not we?re going to kick the can down the road. I think the mood is that we?ve come to the end of the road.?
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz called for a tough approach to the talks.
?For too long, the pitch was, we?ll deal with it next time,? he told Politico. ?No one wants to default, but we are not going to continue to give the president a limitless credit card.?
President Obama said on Monday that the GOP would not ?ransom? the nation?s credit rating in the debt-ceiling talks.
?They will not collect a ransom in exchange for not crashing the American economy,? Obama said Monday of Republicans, the Associated Press reports. The United States, he said, is ?not a deadbeat nation.?
But the president said he would discuss deficit cuts with both parties in a separate deal ? and then, increased revenues must be part of any agreement.
?We can?t finish the job of deficit reduction through spending cuts alone,? Obama said. Though he is open to ?modest adjustments? to entitlement programs, ?we need more revenue through tax reform,? the president said.
But the debt ceiling is really a non-issue, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Diana Furchtgott-Roth said.
?The whole idea that the United States is going to default on its debt is a joke,? Furchtgott-Roth told Moneynews TV on Monday. ?What it comes down to realistically is are we going to cut spending or are we not? Are we going to change the path that we?re on, or are we not? No one really believes we?re going to default.?
Meanwhile, Matt Kibbe, president and CEO of FreedomWorks, told the Daily Caller that his group would capitalize on what he called a tax ?massacre? from this month?s fiscal cliff deal heading into the 2014 midterm elections.
?Our sense is that the New Year?s Day massacre is ? unfortunately, is going to be a gift that keeps giving,? Kibbe told the Daily Caller, referring to the fiscal cliff deal.
Kibbe said ?the taxpayers ? [and] fiscal responsibility are getting massacred.?
?I think, whether we like it or not, this constant budget crisis ? which I think is by design ? is going to continue to define the congressional debate all the way up until the 2014 election,? Kibbe said.
?And we view each of these failures ? as opportunities to educate the American public on the gross irresponsibility of the representation in Washington,? Kibbe said, describing it as ?a teaching moment for America on exactly how not to do things.?
FreedomWorks, which is backed by the Tea Party Patriots, will focus on educating the public about why the fiscal cliff deal was bad politics and bad policy.
?Just educating people on how the budget process is supposed to work and why it is that these midnight deals behind closed doors cut between [Kentucky Republican] Senator [Mitch] McConnell and [Vice President] Joe Biden is such a fundamental corruption of honest government,? Kibbe said.
Kibbe said that Americans were just as troubled by the process as they were by the terms of the cliff deal.
?The tea party was born out of the way that Wall Street was bailed out behind closed doors at the last minute ? as opposed to some open, transparent conversation that the American people could be part of,? Kibbe said. ?Since they are the shareholders, the people who foot the bill for these things, it seems only right that they would be allowed to participate in that conversation.?
?How is it possible that again and again and again, these backroom deals are cut when the American people are paying the least possible amount of attention?? he asked.
? 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/boehner-gop-obama-debt/2013/01/14/id/471395
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