Obama to Congress: Stop shooting down deficit proposals

[steve2470]

President Obama is in Seoul, South Korea, where today he said lawmakers in the United States should hold off on comments about his fiscal commission's proposals to slash the federal budget deficit through spending cuts, ending tax breaks, and a revamping of the Social Security system.


"Before anybody starts shooting down proposals, I think we need to listen, we need to gather up all the facts," Obama told reporters.

He added: "If people are, in fact, concerned about spending, debt, deficits and the future of our country, then they're going to need to be armed with the information about the kinds of choices that are going to be involved, and we can't just engage in political rhetoric."

Obama said he will await the commission's Dec. 1 formal report before commenting in detail. Members "are trying to round up 14 votes for certain aspects of the recommendations, and I want to make sure that they've got the room and the space to do so," he said.

The commission proposals -- outlined here by USA TODAY's Richard Wolf -- drew fire from many of Obama's fellow Democrats, including outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She and other Democrats were particularly critical of proposals to change Social Security, including lower benefits for upper-income recipients and reduced cost-of-living increases.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/11/obama-to-congress-stop-shooting-down-deficit-proposals/1

[n2doc]

1. That's right. There will be plenty of time for discussion later

After the up or down vote on the final version in December, right? :eyes: