the president:good afternoon, everybody. i wanted to say a few wordsabout the looming deadlines and decisions that we face on ourbudget and on our deficit -- and these are decisions thatwill have real and lasting impacts on the strengthand pace of our recovery. economists and business leadersfrom across the spectrum have said that our economy ispoised for progress in 2013. and we've seen signs ofthis progress over the last several weeks.
home prices continue to climb. car sales are ata five-year high. manufacturing has been strong. and we've created morethan six million jobs in the last 35 months. but we've also seen the effectsthat political dysfunction can have on our economic progress. the drawn-out process forresolving the fiscal cliff hurt consumer confidence.
the threat of massive automaticcuts have already started to affect business decisions. so we've been reminded thatwhile it's critical for us to cut wasteful spending, we can'tjust cut our way to prosperity. deep, indiscriminate cuts tothings like education and training, energy and nationalsecurity will cost us jobs, and it will slowdown our recovery. it's not the right thingto do for the economy; it's not the right thing forfolks who are out there still
looking for work. and the good news is thisdoesn't have to happen. for all the drama anddisagreements that we've had over the past few years,democrats and republicans have still been able to come togetherand cut the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a mix ofspending cuts and higher rates on taxes for the wealthy. a balanced approach has achievedmore than $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction.
that's more than halfway towardsthe $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists andelected officials from both parties believe is requiredto stabilize our debt. so we've made progress. and i still believe that we canfinish the job with a balanced mix of spending cutsand more tax reform. the proposals that i putforward during the fiscal cliff negotiations indiscussions with speaker boehner and others are stillvery much on the table.
i just want to repeat: thedeals that i put forward, the balanced approach ofspending cuts and entitlement reform and tax reform that i putforward are still on the table. i've offered sensible reforms tomedicare and other entitlements, and my health care proposalsachieve the same amount of savings by the beginning of thenext decade as the reforms that have been proposed by thebipartisan bowles-simpson fiscal commission. these reforms would reduceour government's bill --
(background noise) (laughter) what's up, cameraman? come on, guys. they're breaking myflow all the time. these reforms would reduce ourgovernment's bills by reducing the cost of health care, notshifting all those costs on to middle-class seniors,or the working poor, or children with disabilities,but nevertheless,
achieving the kinds of savingsthat we're looking for. but in order to achieve thefull $4 trillion in deficit reductions that is the statedgoal of economists and our elected leaders, these modestreforms in our social insurance programs have to go hand-in-handwith a process of tax reform, so that the wealthiestindividuals and corporations can't take advantage ofloopholes and deductions that aren't availableto most americans. leaders in both parties havealready identified the need
to get rid of theseloopholes and deductions. there's no reason why we shouldkeep them at a time when we're trying to cut downon our deficit. and if we are going toclose these loopholes, then there's no reason we shoulduse the savings that we obtain and turn around and spend thaton new tax breaks for the wealthiest or for corporations. if we're serious aboutpaying down the deficit, the savings we achieve fromtax reform should be used to
pay down the deficit, andpotentially to make our businesses more competitive. now, i think this balanced mixof spending cuts and tax reform is the best way to finish thejob of deficit reduction. the overwhelming majority of theamerican people -- democrats and republicans, as wellas independents -- have the same view. and both the house and thesenate are working towards budget proposals that i hopereflect this balanced approach.
having said that, i know that afull budget may not be finished before march 1st,and, unfortunately, that's the date when a seriesof harmful automatic cuts to job-creating investments anddefense spending -- also known as the sequester -- arescheduled to take effect. so if congress can't actimmediately on a bigger package, if they can't get a biggerpackage done by the time the sequester is scheduledto go into effect, then i believe that they shouldat least pass a smaller package
of spending cuts and taxreforms that would delay the economically damaging effectsof the sequester for a few more months until congress finds away to replace these cuts with a smarter solution. there is no reason that the jobsof thousands of americans who work in national security oreducation or clean energy, not to mention the growth of theentire economy should be put in jeopardy just because folksin washington couldn't come together to eliminate a fewspecial interest tax loopholes
or government programs thatwe agree need some reform. congress is already workingtowards a budget that would permanently replacethe sequester. at the very least, we shouldgive them the chance to come up with this budget insteadof making indiscriminate cuts now that will cost us jobsand significantly slow down our recovery. so let me just repeat: oureconomy right now is headed in the right direction and it willstay that way as long as there
aren't any more self-inflictedwounds coming out of washington. so let's keep on chipping awayat this problem together, as democrats and republicans,to give our workers and our businesses the support that theyneed to thrive in the weeks and months ahead. thanks very much. and i know that you'regoing to have a whole bunch of other questions. and that's why i hiredthis guy, jay carney --
-- to take those questions. thank you, everybody.
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