Statement by Vice President Biden On the Bipartisan Debt Talks
Over the past several weeks, the bipartisan debt talks have made significant progress on a blueprint for putting America’s fiscal house in order. Working together in good faith, we have found many areas of common ground and potential agreement on substantial savings. As all of us at the table said at the outset, the goal of these talks was to report our findings back to our respective leaders. The next phase is in the hands of those leaders, who need to determine the scope of an agreement that can tackle the problem and attract bipartisan support. For now the talks are in abeyance as we await that guidance. We stand ready to meet again as necessary.
As the President and I have made clear from the beginning, the only way to make sure we begin to live within our means is by coming together behind a balanced approach that finds real savings across the budget – including domestic spending, defense spending, mandatory spending, and loopholes in the tax code. We all need to make sacrifices, and that includes the most fortunate among us.
I continue to be grateful to my fellow
negotiators for taking on
this formidable challenge. We have made real headway and laid the
groundwork to get this done. We owe it to the American people to
take
every responsible step to do right by our economy and the nation’s
future.
June 23, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) issued the following statement on the Biden debt limit talks:
"Since
early May, Vice President Biden has led meetings surrounding the debt
limit. The Vice President deserves a great deal of credit for his
leadership in bringing us this far. We have worked to find areas of
commonality to meet the goal of identifying spending cuts commensurate
with or exceeding the amount of the Obama Administration's request for
a debt limit increase. I believe that we have identified trillions in
spending cuts, and to date, we have established a blueprint that could
institute the fiscal reforms needed to start getting our fiscal house
in order. That said, each side came into these talks with certain
orders, and as it stands the Democrats continue to insist that any deal
must include tax increases. There is not support in the House for a tax
increase, and I don’t believe now is the time to raise taxes in light
of our current economic situation. Regardless of the progress that has
been made, the tax issue must be resolved before discussions can
continue. Given this impasse, I will not be participating in today's
meeting and I believe it is time for the President to speak clearly and
resolve the tax issue. Once resolved, we have a blueprint to move
forward to trillions of spending cuts and binding mechanisms to change
the way things are done around here."