Democrats love to claim that Republicans are cutting Social Security and Medicare, but President Obama is set to propose just that in a budget proposal next week, the New York Times reported Friday. But Obama will agree to the cuts in growth only if Republicans agree to raise taxes on the rich.
According to the Times, Obama's budget will "embody the final compromise offer" he made to House Speaker John Boehner last year.
According to a senior administration official, the budget Obama will present to Congress next Wednesday would reduce the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years and will include a revised inflation adjustment called “chained CPI” that would curb cost-of-living increases in Social Security and other benefit programs. The Times said that "some Democrats and advocacy groups to Mr. Obama’s left" have already moved to oppose the idea.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Blaze that it is not Obama's preferred approach.
The Times explained that the proposal is intended to "create cracks" in Republican opposition to increased taxes.
"Mr. Obama’s proposed deficit reduction would replace those cuts. And if Republicans continue to resist the president, the White House believes that most Americans will blame them for the fiscal paralysis," the Times said, indicating that the White House is simply setting the stage for another political battle.
The goal, ultimately, is to get Republicans to support higher taxes on the rich.
If Republicans agree to raise taxes on the wealthy and "infrastructure investments," Obama will support the CPI cuts.
“The president has made clear that he is willing to compromise and do tough things to reduce the deficits, but only in the context of a package like this one that has balance and includes revenues from the wealthiest Americans and that is designed to promote economic growth,” said a senior administration official.
“That means,” the official said, “that the things like CPI that Republican leaders have pushed hard for will only be accepted if Congressional Republicans are willing to do more on revenues.”
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