Here is a video from President Obama about the debt argument in Washington.
Taken from barackobama.com, here are a few over view points from the deal.
What the Debt Deal Does:
Removes economic uncertainty surrounding the debt limit at a critical time and prevents either party from using a failure to meet our obligations for political gain.
Makes a significant down payment to reduce the deficit — finding savings in defense and domestic spending while protecting critical investments in education and job creation.
Creates a bipartisan commission to find a balanced approach to continue this progress on deficit reduction.
Establishes an incentive for both sides to compromise on historic deficit reduction while protecting Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, and programs that help low-income families.Follows through on President Obama’s commitment to shared sacrifice by making sure that the middle class, seniors, and those who are most vulnerable do not shoulder the burden of reducing the deficit. As the process moves forward, the President will continue to insist that the wealthiest Americans share the burden.
THE BIPARTISAN DEBT AGREEMENT: KEY FACTS
The President worked to ensure that both parties came together to prevent our government from defaulting on our obligations for the first time in our history, which would have had devastating consequences for our economy.
The agreement rejects unbalanced policies some on the other side were advocating that would have forced seniors and the middle class to shoulder the full burden of reducing the deficit without asking special interests or the wealthiest Americans to share in the sacrifice. For example, the agreement rejects the unbalanced cuts in the Ryan budget and the cut, cap, and balance plan that would have turned Medicare into a voucher program and asked nothing of special interests and the most well-off.
By extending the debt limit to 2013, this agreement removes the cloud of uncertainty over our economy at a critical time. It also ensures that no one will be able to play political games with our nation’s economic future and establishes a framework for balanced fiscal discipline in the long term.All told, this agreement means that:
• Seniors can continue to count on their Social Security payments.
• Veterans will continue to receive their benefits.
• Businesses relying on federal government contracts or funding can continue to keep their employees working.
• The world markets can continue to invest in America without disruption.Importantly, this compromise makes a significant down payment toward reducing the deficit. We’ll gain savings from both domestic and Pentagon spending while protecting crucial investments such as Pell grants for college students.
The agreement also establishes a bipartisan process to seek a balanced approach to further deficit reduction. It creates a congressional committee with triggered incentives to reach a balanced agreement that protects Social Security, Medicare beneficiaries, and low- income programs. The committee will also determine what we will ask of special interests and the wealthiest Americans.The President believes that Democrats and Republicans should act to save critical programs like Medicare for the next generation. Those discussions will continue, and making the tax code more fair will remain part of that conversation.
Finally, this is a compromise that stays true to the President’s commitment to shared sacrifice from all Americans, including the most well-off who enjoy tax breaks they don’t need.
We haven’t put this challenge behind us yet. Congressional leaders in both parties will take this compromise to their members and ask them to act. Swift action on this bipartisan agreement is necessary to help our nation avoid default, pay our bills, start reducing our deficit in a responsible way, and allow us to focus on creating jobs and growing our economy.