A few key points by Mark Warner.
*He hopes and thinks that there won’t be a government shutdown on Friday (“what kind of message would that send to the world?”)
*The cuts we’re talking about right now are miniscule (“small ball”) compared to the enormous size of the deficit and debt problem.
*So far, we’ve only been discussing cuts on 12% of the budget known as “domestic discretionary” – that won’t do it
*To really tackle the deficit, we need to look at security, mandatory programs/entitlements, tax spending (“tax deductions”), and tax reform
*It “frightens the heck out of me” that anyone would even think about “light[ing] the fuse” that could create the “next economic meltdown” by defaulting on the debt. That would be “totally irresponsible”
*”I don’t think a federal balanced budget amendment gets us where we need to be,” and would not tie this directly to the debt limit – could “create financial havoc”
*We need a 5-10 year plan in place to balance the budget and “chip away” at the debt
*It’s time to “take a giant leap together” on debt reduction, we’ll see something “very shortly”
*Doesn’t seem favorably inclined at all towards Rep. Ryan’s “meat ax” plan
*We won’t get there without President Obama, but “the president will be involved”
Meanwhile, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks like a true Republican, apparently willing to trash the U.S. creditworthiness, and thereby the economy, in order to be ideologically pure. Pathetic.
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