President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that overhauling Social Security and Medicare would be “a central part” of his administration’s efforts to contain federal spending, signaling for the first time that he would wade into the thorny politics of entitlement programs. ...Speaking at a news conference in Washington, he provided no details of his approach to rein in Social Security and Medicare, which are projected to consume a growing share of government spending as the baby boom generation ages into retirement over the next two decades. But he said he would have more to say about the issue when he unveiled a budget next month.
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Jan 8, 2009
What Does This Mean?
From today's New York Times:
he said nothing of the sort, the reporters seem to be responding more to the question asked rather than the answer given.
ReplyDeleteFrom the transcript:
QUESTION: Mr. President-elect, budget experts, as you know, agree that the real key to controlling federal spending lies with the entitlement programs. How early do you plan on addressing Medicare and Social Security? And what will your approach be?
OBAMA: Well, first of all, as I noted in my remarks, we're going to be inheriting a $1 trillion-plus deficit. And if we do nothing, then we will continue to see red ink as far as the eye can see.
And at the same time, we have an economic situation that is dire, and we're going to have to jump start this economy with my economic recovery plan, creating 3 million jobs. That's going to cost some money. And in the short term, we will actually see, potentially, additions to the deficit.
As you point out, the key is going to be, medium term and long term, how do we bend the curve so that we
start getting these deficits down to a manageable level? And entitlements are going to be a part of that.
We will -- we are working currently on our budget plans. We are beginning consultations with members of Congress around how we expect to approach the deficit. We expect that discussion around entitlements will be a part, a central part, of those plans. And I would expect that by February, in line with the announcement of at least a rough budget outline, that we will have more to say about how we're going to approach entitlement spending, how we're going to approach eliminating waste in government, one of Nancy's tasks.
So we will have some very specific outlines in terms of how it's going to be done.
Thanks for the transcript. Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteYeah and as a true politician he gave an answer to the question that had nothing to do with the question. Change my butt.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should change your butt. Or at least your attitude. He answered the question; entitlements will be addressed in the future, not right off the bat.
ReplyDeleteI take it you don't like the answer. It's certainly obvious that you don't like the man. But please, let's not flat-out lie here.