Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) doesn’t think Congress’ last-minute budget deal is enough.
Congress probably deserves “medals” for approving one of the “largest year-to-year cut in the federal budget,” Hensarling said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “Relative to the size of the problem, it is not even a rounding error. In that case, we probably all deserve to be tarred and feathered.”
Hensarling and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) discussed Obama’s role in the budget negotiations, and looked ahead to the next budget showdown: a fight over America’s debt ceiling. Both Hensarling and Durbin agreed raising the debt ceiling — the amount of money the government can borrow — would have consequences.
But Hensarling stuck fairly close to Republican talking points on reducing the deficit: “We’re asking the president one thing: If you want our help to help pay your debts, start to cut up the credit cards,” he said. “Work with us to put into place legislation to start putting America on a fiscally sustainable path.”
Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech Wednesday outlining his plan for long-term deficit reduction. Senior White House adviser David Ploufe has said Obama will consider tax increases for the wealthy, along with savings in Medicare, Medicaid and defense spending.
Read more of Hensarling’s interview here.
David Taintor
David Taintor is the Front Page Editor at TPM, where he contributes to TPM's Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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