The president talks of tax hikes and military spending cuts while adamantly defending healthcare for the elderly and poor. He assails the GOP spending plan unveiled last week.
Reporting from Washington—
President Obama vigorously defended government's responsibility for the nation's most vulnerable citizens and castigated Republican plans to "end Medicare as we know it" as he moved to shape the burgeoning national debate over the federal deficit with his own mix of tax increases and spending cuts.
Hitting themes likely to figure prominently in his reelection campaign, Obama cast the debate with the Republicans in a moral framework. The GOP plan unveiled last week by Rep.Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) offered a "deeply pessimistic" vision of the country that would fundamentally change the nation's social compact, he said. It would tell seniors and the poor, "tough luck — you're on your own."
While Ryan's approach would achieve its savings exclusively through deep cuts in the scope of government, Obama said he would narrow the deficit by closing tax loopholes and raising taxes on upper income Americans. Obama also wants to cut more deeply into military spending and would aim to hold down the cost of healthcare programs.
The president also argued for preserving what he termed "investments" in schools, highways, bridges and research — spending that he said was necessary to keep the U.S. competitive with countries such as South Korea and China.
Obama delivered the speech under pressure from two sides. He has been pushed by Republicans and moderate Democrats to show his seriousness about reining in huge deficits, but also by liberal supporters wanting evidence that he would stand up to GOP efforts to dramatically change basic aspects of the nation's healthcare safety net. Polls show deficit reduction has popular support, though the public is less certain how to go about it.
Obama used some of the strongest language of his presidency in laying out the competing plans coming from the White House and the Republican Party. He vowed to stop opponents' plan to convert Medicare into a voucher program.
Republicans, he said, have put forward "a vision that says America can't afford to keep the promise we've made" to care for seniors.
"It says, instead of guaranteed healthcare, you will get a voucher," Obama said. "And if that voucher isn't worth enough to buy the insurance that's available in the open marketplace, well, tough luck — you're on your own."
He also promised to end the George W. Bush-era tax cuts. During the lame duck congressional session late last year, Obama reluctantly agreed to extend the tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 a year, saying the only alternative was to accept a tax increase for struggling middle-class Americans.
But on Wednesday, he said: "We cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. We can't afford it. And I refuse to renew them again."
Those arguments are certain to resound through the 2012 election.
Obama spoke at George Washington University before an audience that included students, members of the administration and congressional leaders. Also listening were Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who co-chaired a deficit reduction commission Obama created in February 2010. At one point, television footage showed, Vice President Joe Biden appeared to start falling asleep.
Obama acknowledged differences with conservative critics and liberal allies, once again staking out a centrist position and portraying himself as a reasonable adult in a difficult debate.
Republicans quickly denounced the president's plan and accused him of hyper-partisanship.
"More promises, hollow targets and Washington commissions simply won't get the job done," said House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
Ryan, who was in the audience, later called the speech "excessively partisan, dramatically inaccurate and hopelessly inadequate."
To achieve the $4 trillion in deficit reductions, Obama would raise revenues by $1 trillion; cut $2 trillion in spending; and avoid $1 trillion in debt payments.
Obama wants to cut $400 billion from national security spending over 10 years. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' staff said the secretary learned about that goal only on Tuesday.
Should the deficit reduction efforts miss their targets, Obama would step up the pace through a "debt fail-safe" mechanism that would be designed to trigger across-the-board spending cuts.
Republicans, he said, have put forward "a vision that says America can't afford to keep the promise we've made" to care for seniors.
"It says, instead of guaranteed healthcare, you will get a voucher," Obama said. "And if that voucher isn't worth enough to buy the insurance that's available in the open marketplace, well, tough luck — you're on your own."
He also promised to end the George W. Bush-era tax cuts. During the lame duck congressional session late last year, Obama reluctantly agreed to extend the tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 a year, saying the only alternative was to accept a tax increase for struggling middle-class Americans.
But on Wednesday, he said: "We cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. We can't afford it. And I refuse to renew them again."
Those arguments are certain to resound through the 2012 election.
Obama spoke at George Washington University before an audience that included students, members of the administration and congressional leaders. Also listening were Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who co-chaired a deficit reduction commission Obama created in February 2010. At one point, television footage showed, Vice President Joe Biden appeared to start falling asleep.
Obama acknowledged differences with conservative critics and liberal allies, once again staking out a centrist position and portraying himself as a reasonable adult in a difficult debate.
Republicans quickly denounced the president's plan and accused him of hyper-partisanship.
"More promises, hollow targets and Washington commissions simply won't get the job done," said House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).
Ryan, who was in the audience, later called the speech "excessively partisan, dramatically inaccurate and hopelessly inadequate."
To achieve the $4 trillion in deficit reductions, Obama would raise revenues by $1 trillion; cut $2 trillion in spending; and avoid $1 trillion in debt payments.
Obama wants to cut $400 billion from national security spending over 10 years. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' staff said the secretary learned about that goal only on Tuesday.
Should the deficit reduction efforts miss their targets, Obama would step up the pace through a "debt fail-safe" mechanism that would be designed to trigger across-the-board spending cuts.
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