This is a bad bill. When I addressed the American people Tuesday, I said the American people wants a balanced approach to the deficit that includes increasing revenue. This is not that bill. This bill will not help our deficit, but increase it, puts entitlements at risk, and doesn't even end the economic uncertainty of this political brinksmanship. It takes money out of the ecnomy at a time when we should be putting more in. And a lot of people are going to be hurt.
But I am going to sign it. Not because it's a good bill - it's a budget no moral, reasonable person would ever sign in good conscience, and far to the right of what most Republicans want. I will sign it because as bad as this bill is - and believe me, it's a doozy - it's better than default. And that's the position the Republican Congress has put me in.
So no, I'm not signing this budget. I'm signing to lift the debt ceiling and avoid a default in perilous economic times, and my focus from now until the next election - when the economy, because of this bill, in all likelihood will be even worse - will be in dismantling it and ensuring it never becomes law.
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