Reactions to President Obama's Deficit Speech
September 19, 2011

10:26 a.m.

MITT ROMNEY: PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS NO CLUE HOW TO BRING ECONOMY BACK

Boston, MA – Mitt Romney today issued the following statement on President Obama’s plan to raise taxes:

“President Obama’s plan to raise taxes will have a crushing impact on economic growth. Higher taxes mean fewer jobs – it’s that simple. This is yet another indication that President Obama has no clue how to bring our economy back. I encourage President Obama to look at my detailed economic plan to create long-term growth and prosperity for our nation. The only way to get our economy moving again is to elect a president who understands how to create jobs and rein in spending – that is why I am running.”

11:06 a.m.

Jon Huntsman's Statement on President Obama's Deficit Speech

Orlando - Jon Huntsman issued the following statement on President Obama's deficit speech:

“President Obama continues to demonstrate that he has no new ideas on how to create American jobs. For two and a half years he's been peddling a version of the Buffett Tax Hike as a key pillar of his failed attempt to tax and spend and regulate this country to prosperity. That simply hasn't worked and it won't work now. President Obama’s veto threats and partisan demands are a poor attempt to camouflage a $1.5 trillion tax hike that is deeply misguided and the latest example of his ineffective leadership on the economy.

"The most important thing Congress and the super-committee can do is deal with the structural problems that are causing our debt and impeding job creation. Meaningful entitlement reform and revenue-neutral tax reform should be priority #1; tax increases should not make the list.

"I recently presented a jobs plan to the American people that dramatically reforms our country’s tax and regulatory system –that’s what we need as a country to create jobs and it's exactly why the Wall Street Journal endorsed my plan. I urge Congress to resoundingly reject the President's $1.5 trillion tax increase and work together on the structural reforms to entitlements and taxes that we so desperately need.”

12:13 p.m.

Statement from Gov. Rick Perry on President Obama’s Speech on the Economy

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today issued the following statement on President Obama’s speech on the economy:

“President Obama's plan is a bait and switch that offers more than a trillion dollars in higher taxes for a promise of temporary tax relief. The president penalizes investment when it is needed most, discourages charitable giving and doubles down on a failed government stimulus strategy.

“Worst of all, the Obama plan fails to provide the certainty employers need to create jobs and the spending and deficit reduction our economy needs.”

12:16 p.m.
Cain: "It's Still Class Warfare."

(Stockbridge, GA)- Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain responded to President Obama's jobs speech today, saying: 

Today, the Obama Administration's assault on the private sector continued. In yet another speech, he called for America's job creators to shoulder an even heavier burden than they must already. President Obama promised that his efforts were not "class warfare," but instead "math."

Perhaps he could learn a lesson or two on math from me. I have a degree in mathematics and spent the earlier days of my career as a supervisory mathematician for the Department of the Navy. Then, I worked for 40 years as an executive in the private sector where I balanced budgets, saved failing companies and created jobs. Both obviously demanded a command of advanced mathematics.

Here's what I can tell him about math: raising taxes on anyone, no matter their income level, will do nothing to stimulate our economy, create jobs or balance our federal budget. Increasing taxes on the private sector will destroy jobs, further damaging our economy and sending even less revenue to the federal government.

His eagerness to punish the private sector indicates he doesn't understand the most important truth of basic economics: the private sector creates jobs. These are the jobs that pay for the food for our families, the roofs over our heads, the heat for our homes, the clothes on our backs, the schools for our kids and the plans for our retirement.

Perhaps his ignorance of basic economics is due to the fact that both he and more than 90 percent of his Administration have no private sector experience at all. Thus, they are all too willing to continually punish America's job creators, all in the name of "fairness."

President Obama's once said, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." I agree. It doesn't matter that he calls it "paying your fair share." It's still class warfare.

12:17 p.m.

GARY JOHNSON: PRESIDENT'S PLAN IS JUST A REFUSAL TO REALLY CUT SPENDING

September 19, 2011, Manchester, NH – Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson’s reaction to President Obama’s deficit reduction speech:

"Every time the President says we need to raise taxes to reduce the deficit, what he is really saying is that he is not willing to cut spending.  This latest plan is nothing more than a series of real tax increases coupled with spending reductions that are already planned or, at best, speculative.  Whether it is higher taxes for billionaires or the lowest income brackets, taking dollars -- trillions of them -- from the private economy and giving it to government will only kill jobs, feed more government spending, and ultimately do nothing to reduce the deficit.

"Washington needs to get the message that the American people already know:  The federal budget can be balanced by reducing spending, and it can be balanced now.  All of these other plans to do so over the next 10 or 20 years are just rhetoric, and refusal to do what really needs to be done."

12:57 p.m.

Bachmann Responds to President Obama's Jobs Plan

Urbandale, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann issued the following statement in response to President Obama's jobs plan which includes $1.5 trillion in new taxes:

"Mr. President - you don't create jobs by increasing taxes on job creators. The president's plan to raise taxes on the American people is the wrong policy to create economic growth and jobs and shows he doesn't understand how to turn our economy around. Two businesses I will visit in Iowa today are examples of why the President's policies continue to dig us deeper into the hole toward another recession. Both fear the coming regulations, taxes and costs of Obamacare. And both face uncertainty in the tax code. The President's gimmicks and tax increases on the backs of small business and the middle class won't grow our economy. Only permanent fixes will. The President should allow for repatriation of American money overseas, truly reform the entire tax code so it fairer and flatter on all Americans, and get rid of job killing regulations, including on the energy sector, which will create millions of jobs.

"If Warren Buffett believes he doesn't pay enough taxes, then he should write a check today to the Treasury, but he and the President shouldn't enact warfare on the millions of small businesses, on charities and on middle class America with increased tax burdens. The President is compromising the future of our children with his plan to continue spending and increase taxes, and he is ruining the American economy."

1:06 p.m.

Ron Paul Campaign Issues Response to Obama’s Jobs, Deficit Plan
“A $1.5 trillion tax hike will do nothing to help us out of this mess”

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – The Ron Paul 2012 Republican presidential campaign has released a statement in response to President Obama’s speech outlining his proposed jobs and deficit plan. See statement from Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton below.
 
“President Obama’s job creation and deficit reduction plan will do nothing to combat joblessness or reduce the crushing debt that the federal government has accumulated and is still accumulating.
 
“That’s because when the President starts targeting the so-called rich, he’s really targeting small business owners, so ultimately he’s threatening the little guy.  The President’s plan, then, will result in a fatal broadside to the national economy from Main Street on down.
 
“The President’s class-baiting rhetoric categorizes Americans into opposing groups and pits them against one another, purely for his own political gain. This gets us nowhere as a nation, and nowhere closer to solving our economic problems.
 
“A $1.5 trillion tax hike will do nothing to help us out of this mess we’re in, and will more than likely create more problems, lead to less investment, and cause more job loss at a time when Americans of all kinds are hurting.
 
“President Obama and his administration refuse to confront the realities of our situation and the actions that are necessary. We must reduce spending, instead they pretend that the budget can be balanced and prosperity restored by increasing spending and taxes.
 
“Instead of raising taxes, this administration should cut corporate welfare, foreign welfare and end the trillion dollars overseas wars by bringing troops home.
 
“These would be sound policy actions, the kind that create prosperity and engender greater freedom. These are the kind of policies that a President Ron Paul will advocate for and institute to restore limited government principles and a strong America.”
3:35 p.m.
Newt: Obama Fails the Test of Leadership

Council Bluffs, IA - Newt Gingrich released the following statement today reacting to President Obama's plan to reduce the deficit:

"Once again, President Obama fails the test of leadership. In the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression, job creation must be job one for our political leaders. Instead, the president has chosen the path of political gamesmanship and class warfare with a plan that would kill jobs with higher taxes on small businesses and private capital. America only works when Americans are working, and President Obama's latest proposal just doesn't work."
4:15 p.m.

Presidential Candidate Buddy Roemer Responds to President Obama’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction 
 
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Republican businessman and former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer today released the following statement in response to President Obama’s economic plan. 

“President Obama’s jobs plan leaves America dead in the economic waters.  Rather than raising the level of growth, his plan raises taxes, raises unemployment and raises the federal debt.    

My jobs plan calls for real tax reform that closes special interest corporate loopholes, eliminates foreign tax credits, and ends the unfair trade practices that export American jobs overseas.  We must stop giving tax breaks to large corporations that are creating jobs overseas in China and start giving tax relief to small businesses that are creating jobs right here in America.      

It’s time we finally stand up for America.  Do it and do it right now Mr. President.”
PRESS RELEASE from RNC

RNC Chairman Priebus Statement on the President’s Latest Proposal to Raise Taxes

WASHINGTON – Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus released the following statement regarding the president’s latest tax hike proposal on job creators:

“President Obama’s call for $1.5 trillion in tax increases is a thinly-veiled attempt to score political points and foot the bill for his Stimulus 2.0. By raising taxes on job-creators, Obama may win back some support from disgruntled liberal voters, but America will lose even more sorely needed jobs.   

“Tax increases will not put Americans back to work. Both Republicans and Democrats know this, and that’s why many of these proposals could not pass a Democrat-controlled Congress in 2009—and why they won’t pass in 2011.  America desperately needs deficit reduction, but it need not require stifling job creation. 

“Today’s framework is a half-hearted and misguided attempt America cannot afford. After Obama racked up trillions of dollars in debt in record time and ran three trillion-dollar annual deficits in a row, Americans have been clamoring for some sign of spending restraint—not new taxes to fuel the growth of government. 

“At its core, this plan is a sad reminder that the President is neither serious about controlling spending nor aware of what is needed for economic growth.”

PRESS RELEASE from NRCC

Chairman Sessions: Tax Hikes Are Obama’s Latest Wrecking Ball for the American Economy

Washington, DC – National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) released the following statement in response to President Obama’s plan to raise taxes by $1.5 trillion:

“President Obama has unveiled his latest wrecking ball for the American economy: $1.5 trillion in tax increases when our nation can least afford it.  With tax hikes dead on arrival in Congress, President Obama is engaged in a purely political stunt aimed at masking his job-destroying agenda with class warfare. Taxes on any level are equal opportunity job-killers that strangle investment and economic growth.

“Washington doesn’t tax too little; it spends too much. President Obama is in full denial of American voters’ repeated rejection of his tax, borrow and spend policies that have made a bad economy worse.  President Obama’s 2012 playbook is now on display: manufacture resentment, blame others and peddle the same failed policies of more spending, bigger government and higher taxes.”

PRESS RELEASE from MoveOn.org

 

Statement of Daniel Mintz, Campaign Director at MoveOn.org, on the President's deficit reduction announcement:

 

"For months, hundreds of thousands of members of the American Dream Movement have been urging Washington to focus on creating jobs and making our tax system work for all Americans, not just the super rich. Today, we're glad to see this message reach the White House. Americans need jobs not cuts, paid for by making millionaires and corporations pay their fair share. The Tea Party led Republicans in Congress have made their position very clear. They want to eliminate Medicare as we know it just so they can protect tax breaks for the rich, all the while doing nothing to create jobs.

 

"The only way out of the economic hole we are in is to put Americans back to work. The President has laid out a clear vision to do that. Any Republicans, and Democrats, who oppose these common sense, hugely popular proposals will be standing in the way of a real recovery."