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In line with the wishes of Senate Democratic leaders, the president made no recommendations for savings from Social Security, which he said is neither in a crisis nor "a driver of our near-term deficit problems." He said he supports unspecified steps to strengthen it for the long term, but ruled out any attempt to privatize it. The president also urged Congress to pass tax changes, and he suggested he was open to curtailing a homeowners' tax deduction that can currently be claimed by filers at all income levels. Obama's plan relied on some of the same deficit reduction measures proposed in December by a bipartisan fiscal commission he appointed. The president is scheduled to meet Thursday at the White House with the co-chairmen of the commission, Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson. Neither Obama nor his aides distributed any detailed accounting of the effect of his recommendations on the deficit, which is expected to top $1.5 trillion this year, or the debt, now more than $14 trillion. Obama saved some of his sharpest rhetoric for Republican proposals to end traditional Medicare for anyone currently under 55, and to give the states near-total control over Medicaid. For Medicare, he said, "It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn't worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck
-- you're on your own." He said the Republican budget could cost 50 million Americans health care coverage in all, including grandparents needing nursing home care, children with autism and kids "with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we'd be telling to fend for themselves." The debt has grown for much of the past few decades, with the exception of a brief period after President Bill Clinton and Republicans in Congress reached a compromise that permitted payments to reduce it. Even a recounting of the debt's history had a political subtext. Beginning in 2000, the president said, "we increased spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription drug programs, but we didn't pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts." That was a reference to policies pursued by President George W. Bush and the Republicans who controlled Congress for six of his eight years in office. Obama made a glancing reference to the 2012 presidential race, saying that some of his potential Republican rivals had signed onto the budget House republicans are advancing. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one likely GOP candidate, issued a statement that said Obama had "dug deep into his liberal playbook for solutions highlighted by higher taxes." Another, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, said that with his speech, the president showed a "lack of seriousness on deficit reduction."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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