“Our own growth could slow if Congress does not do away with a few of the counterproductive austerity measures that they have put in place, and if Congress does not avoid the kind of manufactured controversies that shatter consumer confidence and could disrupt an already-skittish global economy”, Obama said.
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“Congress has to do its job”, he said.
President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the State Dining Room of the White House on October 2, 2015.
The bill he signed this week, which averted a potential government shutdown, only keeps the government funded through December 11.
But Obama called that a “gimmick” that only sets up another crisis.
Obama said, “There is still a path for us to come up with a reasonable budget agreement to raise spending caps that maintains prudent control of deficits”.
“We can not cut our way to prosperity”, Obama said.
“We’re not going to negotiate on that”, the president said of the debt ceiling. Democrats are seeking as much as $74 billion in increased spending on education, infrastructure, and other domestic and defense needs, while Republicans want about half as much only for the military.
That deadline, and the need to raise the government’s debt ceiling expected in early November, loom as Republicans struggle to find a successor for House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner.
The White House is wary, however, that McConnell is attempting to cut out Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
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Information for this article was contributed by Christi Parsons of Tribune News Service and by Andrew Taylor, Erica Werner and Alan Fram of The Associated Press.
