The challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics," the president said in a nationally televised speech at the
guess handbags dawn of a new era of divided government.
Republicans applauded the president politely and tempered their post-speech criticism on a night where civility reigned, more than two weeks after the shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that killed six, left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., wounded and stunned lawmakers.
"I assure you, we want to work with the president
fashion trends 2011 to cut federal spending," Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan said in the official Republican response moments after Obama spoke.
But the chairman of the House Budget Committee pivoted quickly and said that in the past two years Obama had presided over a huge run-up in spending on domestic programs. Democrats then "made matters even worse" with a health care law stuffed with taxes, penalties, mandates and fees that are stifling job creation, he said.
While Republican leaders sought to put Ryan out front, their plan was complicated by the decision of Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, a tea party favorite, to deliver a speech of her own.
Newly in charge of the House, Republicans already have made an early down payment on their commitment to cut costs, voting to pare spending on their own office and committee accounts by 5 percent. On Tuesday, hours before Obama spoke, they went on record in favor of reducing most domestic programs to levels in place when Obama took office, and 17 Democrats joined them.
Even larger cuts are expected as winter turns to spring, but another relatively small change was on the House agenda for the day after Obama's speech.
It would eliminate the program of federal matching funds that helps finance presidential campaigns, and supporters said savings would total $520 million over a decade.
The White House opposes the bill, saying the system should be improved, not eliminated.
He drew applause from GOP deficit hawks in his audience when he said he would veto legislation containing pet projects known as earmarks. But then he challenged lawmakers to make public any meetings they have with lobbyists, a step he said the White House has already taken.
He said Social Security's finances must be strengthened "without slashing benefits for future generations, and without subjecting Americans' guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market." That was a message to Ryan and other Republicans who want to let younger workers create private retirement accounts as an alternative to the current system of government benefits.
Republicans were unanimous on one point — that Obama's calls for spending cuts weren't strong enough. The party's leader in the Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said overall the president had "changed the tone and the rhetoric" from his first two years in office. But, he said, "freezing government spending for five years at the increased levels of the last two years is really not enough."
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who backed numerous tea party-backed challengers in last fall's elections, was dismissive. "When the President says 'investment' he means bigger federal government and higher taxes. Americans sent a clear message in the 2010 elections. They no longer wish to 'invest' in President Obama's big-spending plans."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement: "A partial freeze is inadequate at a time when we're borrowing 41 cents of every dollar we spend, and the administration is begging for another increase in the debt limit. Rather than lock in the job-crushing spending binge of the last two years, we are working to carry out our pledge to cut spending to pre-'stimulus,' pre-bailout levels and impose real spending caps."
And Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who chairs power balance the Republican Study Committee, said Obama's proposed freeze was "nothing less than recklessly driving toward a brick wall at 80 miles per hour, then putting on the cruise control and calling it 'responsibility."'
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