–Senate Republican Leaders Say U.S. To Hit $13 Trillion Debt Level
–Sen. Gregg: Must Reform Entitlements To Control Deficit, Debt Rise
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) – Sen. Judd Gregg, the ranking Republican on the
Senate Budget Committee, said Thursday that the federal government will
soon exceed the $13 trillion debt level, a grim indication that new
fiscal policies are urgently needed.
At a briefing, Gregg and several other Senate Republican leaders,
said the U.S.’s grim fiscal outlook can only be reversed by aggressive
moves to control spending.
“The size of the American government has exploded,” Gregg said.
Gregg said some of the rise of deficits and debt is beyond the
control of the Obama administration.
But passage of the $787 billion fiscal stimulus package and the
health care overhaul has made a bad situation far worse, he said.
“We have to control the entitlement state,” he said, adding that
the Obama administration has “radically expanded the size of the
entitlement state.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy
Committee, said Republican leaders suggested to President Obama at the
start of his administration that they jointly work on Social Security
reform, but the president rebuffed the GOP offer.
Alexander predicted the 2010 mid-term elections will be shaped by
the concerns of the American people about “too much spending, too much
debt, too many taxes.”
** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **
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