CHICAGO -- President Barack Obama confidently predicted Friday that a divided Congress would raise the nation's borrowing limit to cover the staggering federal debt rather than risk triggering a worldwide recession, but he conceded for the first time he would have to offer more spending cuts to Republicans to get a deal.
Pushed to the brink, Obama said, the two parties would find a smart compromise.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama also took pains to promote his long-term plan to cuts trillions of dollars from federal deficits as a fairer, more compassionate alternative to a Republican plan that surged to party-line passage Friday afternoon in the House.
And Obama said in his most forceful terms yet that he had the economic record to win re-election after he had been able to yank this economy out of recession.
One week after the near government shutdown - Obama signed the bill finalizing that legislation after returning to the White House - the rejuvenated president answered questions in his hometown following an evening of fundraising for his re-election bid and a rare night in his own bed.
On America's wars, he said that a significant number of troops would begin coming home from Afghanistan in July despite expectations that the withdrawal could be modest. He said the U.S. would not expand its military role to end a bloody stalemate in Libya but insisted that Moammar Gadhafi would, in time, be forced from power.
While the House approved the multitrillion-dollar deficit-cuts measure, it was Obama's comments on the debt limit - an issue the White House has labored to keep separate from yearly red ink totals - that altered the debate of the day.
The government is nearing its borrowing limit of $14.3 trillion and risks going into a crippling default. Seizing on public frustration about spending, House Republicans say they won't lift the debt cap without more cuts.
Full article: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/15/obama-raise-debt-ceiling-or-risk-global-recession/
Pushed to the brink, Obama said, the two parties would find a smart compromise.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama also took pains to promote his long-term plan to cuts trillions of dollars from federal deficits as a fairer, more compassionate alternative to a Republican plan that surged to party-line passage Friday afternoon in the House.
And Obama said in his most forceful terms yet that he had the economic record to win re-election after he had been able to yank this economy out of recession.
One week after the near government shutdown - Obama signed the bill finalizing that legislation after returning to the White House - the rejuvenated president answered questions in his hometown following an evening of fundraising for his re-election bid and a rare night in his own bed.
On America's wars, he said that a significant number of troops would begin coming home from Afghanistan in July despite expectations that the withdrawal could be modest. He said the U.S. would not expand its military role to end a bloody stalemate in Libya but insisted that Moammar Gadhafi would, in time, be forced from power.
While the House approved the multitrillion-dollar deficit-cuts measure, it was Obama's comments on the debt limit - an issue the White House has labored to keep separate from yearly red ink totals - that altered the debate of the day.
The government is nearing its borrowing limit of $14.3 trillion and risks going into a crippling default. Seizing on public frustration about spending, House Republicans say they won't lift the debt cap without more cuts.
Full article: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/15/obama-raise-debt-ceiling-or-risk-global-recession/
