Obama to seek 'fiscally sustainable path,' not balanced budget

President Obama is unlikely to balance the budget when he releases his budget blueprint next month.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday said Obama’s budget will seek to put the U.S. on a “fiscally sustainable path” that brings the deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product.

He said Obama’s proposal would not attempt to hit an arbitrary target, however, and that it will only project over the next decade.

“The broader effort underway here is to try to, through the budget process, achieve a compromise that allows for both entitlement reform and tax reform, that produces the savings necessary to achieve that $4 trillion-plus target over 10 years of deficit reduction to put our economy on a fiscally sustainable path,” Carney said. “And that is the president's goal: Deficit reduction large enough to put our economy on a fiscally sustainable path so that the ratio of debt-to-GDP is below 3 percent for a period of time that would allow concurrently, through investments and other policy decisions, allow the economy to grow.”

The House GOP budget to be released tomorrow by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is expected to balance in 10 years. Ryan’s proposal is expected to include deep cuts to entitlement programs and government spending, but no new taxes.

In seeking to balance the budget in 10 years, the new document from Ryan will be more ambitious than his last budgets.

“We think we have a responsible plan to balance the budget, which — the reason we do a balanced budget is not to make the numbers simply add up, it leads to a healthy, growing economy that creates jobs,” Ryan told “Fox News Sunday.” “It's a means to an end. And the means is to get to a good, growing economy to create jobs and opportunity.”

Carney said Obama’s goal was to produce a budget that would provide economic growth and create jobs.

“It should not be deficit reduction for deficit reduction's sake. The goal here should be economic growth and job creation,” Carney said.

Republicans have criticized the White House for failing to release its budget, which under the law was due in the first week of February. Congressional sources now say they believe the budget will come in early April, which will trail budget proposals from the House and Senate.

On Monday, Carney again reiterated that the White House did not "have a date-certain" for release of the president's budget.

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Lawmakers Introduce Sweeping Sex Ed Bill To Mandate LGBT Inclusive, Gender Balanced Health Classes

Just this week, the CDC released new data pointing to the United States’ “ongoing, severe epidemic” of sexually transmitted infections, which incur the country an estimate $16 billion each year in medical costs. That public health crisis is partly fueled by the lack of comprehensive, medically accurate sexual health instruction in classrooms across the country — but some lawmakers are seeking to change that with a sex ed bill that would overhaul the outdated health classes in America’s public schools.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and 32 other Democratic politicians re-introduced the “Real Education for Healthy Youth Act” on Thursday, legislation that would “expand comprehensive sex education programs in schools and ensure that federal funds are spent on effective, age-appropriate, medically accurate programs.”

“The bill does a lot of important things — it’s a big bill,” Sarah Audelo, the Domestic Policy Director for Advocates for Youth, explained to ThinkProgress. “There’s a lot to be covered, and a lot of resources that young people need that they’re not currently getting.” In particular, the legislation would ensure that federal funding is allocated only to the sexual health programs that include inclusive language about LGBT issues, don’t rely on outdated gender stereotypes, and impart accurate information about HIV.

Right now, sexual education standards vary widely across states. Just 12 states mandate that sexual health curricula must be medically accurate — which means that young people across the country are receiving false information about birth control’s effectiveness, the right way to prevent STDs, and the way that HIV is transmitted.

“Ultimately, we have a long way to go when it comes to sex ed,” Audelo pointed out. “The United States has some of the worst sexual health outcomes in the developed world, and we can’t blame young people for their poor decisions when we don’t teach them how to make the right choices for their bodies.”

And there is concrete evidence to back up Audelo’s claims. The states that push abstinence-only education programs in their public schools — which doesn’t trust teens enough to teach them facts about their bodies — have the highest rates of teen pregnancies, while adolescents who actually receive instruction about prevention methods are 60 percent less likely to get someone else pregnant or get pregnant themselves. Nevertheless, right-wing politicians continue to do exactly what Audelo cautions against — and blame teenagers themselves for failed abstinence-only policies.

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Averting the Sequester and Finding a Balanced Approach to Deficit Reduction

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC—In this week’s address, President Obama urged Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts—called a sequester—from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs.  The President urged Congress to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction that makes investments in areas that help us grow and cuts what we don’t need.

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, February 9, 2013.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
The White House
February 9, 2013

Hi, everybody.  Over the last few years, Democrats and Republicans have come together and cut our deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a balanced mix of spending cuts and higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans.  That’s more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties say we need to stabilize our debt. 

I believe we can finish the job the same way we’ve started it – with a balanced mix of more spending cuts and more tax reform.  And the overwhelming majority of the American people agree – both Democrats and Republicans.  

Now, my preference – and the preference of many Members of Congress – is to do that in a balanced, comprehensive way, by making sensible changes to entitlement programs and reforming our tax code.  As we speak, both the House and Senate are working towards budget proposals that I hope will lay out this kind of balanced path going forward. 

But the budget process takes time.  And right now, if Congress doesn’t act by March 1st, a series of harmful, automatic cuts to job-creating investments and defense spending – also known as the sequester – are scheduled to take effect.  And the result could be a huge blow to middle-class families and our economy as a whole.

If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off.  Firefighters and food inspectors could also find themselves out of work – leaving our communities vulnerable.  Programs like Head Start would be cut, and lifesaving research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s could be scaled back.  Small businesses could be prevented from getting the resources and support they need to keep their doors open.  People with disabilities who are waiting for their benefits could be forced to wait even longer.  All our economic progress could be put at risk.

And then there’s the impact on our military readiness.  Already, the threat of deep cuts has forced the Navy to delay an aircraft carrier that was supposed to deploy to the Persian Gulf.  As our military leaders have made clear, changes like this affect our ability to respond to threats in an unstable part of the world.  And we will be forced to make even more tough decisions in the weeks ahead if Congress fails to act.

The good news is, there’s another option.  Two months ago, we faced a similar deadline, and instead of making deep, indiscriminate cuts that would have cost us jobs and slowed down our recovery, Democrats and Republicans came together and made responsible cuts and manageable changes to our tax code that will bring down our deficit.  This time, Congress should pass a similar set of balanced cuts and close more tax loopholes until they can find a way to replace the sequester with a smarter, longer-term solution. 

Right now, most Members of Congress – including many Republicans – don’t think it’s a good idea to put thousands of jobs at risk and do unnecessary damage to our economy.  And yet the current Republican plan puts the burden of avoiding those cuts mainly on seniors and middle-class families.  They would rather ask more from the vast majority of Americans and put our recovery at risk than close even a single tax loophole that benefits the wealthy.

Over the last few years, we’ve made good progress towards reducing our deficit in a balanced way.  There’s no reason we can’t keep chipping away at this problem.  And there’s certainly no reason that middle-class families and small businesses should suffer just because Washington couldn’t come together and eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes, or government programs that just don’t work.  At a time when economists and business leaders from across the spectrum have said that our economy is poised for progress, we shouldn’t allow self-inflicted wounds to put that progress in jeopardy.

So my message to Congress is this: let’s keep working together to solve this problem.  And let’s give our workers and our businesses the support they need to grow and thrive.  Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Check out all the ways you can get involved with President Obama's State of the Union Address.

With less than three weeks before devastating, across the board cuts - the so-called "sequester" - are slated to hit, affecting our national security, job creation and economic growth, we must make sure we are having a debate over how to deal with these looming deadlines that is based on facts- not myths being spread by some Congressional Republicans who would rather see these cuts hit than ask the wealthiest and big corporations to pay a little bit more.

President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts—called a sequester—from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs.

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Weekly Address: Averting the Sequester and Finding a Balanced Approach to Deficit Reduction

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Hi, everybody. Over the last few years, Democrats and Republicans have come together and cut our deficit by more than $2.5 trillion through a balanced mix of spending cuts and higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. That’s more than halfway towards the $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists and elected officials from both parties say we need to stabilize our debt. 

I believe we can finish the job the same way we’ve started it – with a balanced mix of more spending cuts and more tax reform. And the overwhelming majority of the American people agree – both Democrats and Republicans.

Now, my preference – and the preference of many Members of Congress – is to do that in a balanced, comprehensive way, by making sensible changes to entitlement programs and reforming our tax code. As we speak, both the House and Senate are working towards budget proposals that I hope will lay out this kind of balanced path going forward. 

But the budget process takes time. And right now, if Congress doesn’t act by March 1, a series of harmful, automatic cuts to job-creating investments and defense spending – also known as the sequester – are scheduled to take effect. And the result could be a huge blow to middle-class families and our economy as a whole.

If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off. Firefighters and food inspectors could also find themselves out of work – leaving our communities vulnerable. Programs like Head Start would be cut, and lifesaving research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s could be scaled back. Small businesses could be prevented from getting the resources and support they need to keep their doors open. People with disabilities who are waiting for their benefits could be forced to wait even longer. All our economic progress could be put at risk.

And then there’s the impact on our military readiness. Already, the threat of deep cuts has forced the Navy to delay an aircraft carrier that was supposed to deploy to the Persian Gulf. As our military leaders have made clear, changes like this affect our ability to respond to threats in an unstable part of the world. And we will be forced to make even more tough decisions in the weeks ahead if Congress fails to act.

The good news is, there’s another option. Two months ago, we faced a similar deadline, and instead of making deep, indiscriminate cuts that would have cost us jobs and slowed down our recovery, Democrats and Republicans came together and made responsible cuts and manageable changes to our tax code that will bring down our deficit. This time, Congress should pass a similar set of balanced cuts and close more tax loopholes until they can find a way to replace the sequester with a smarter, longer-term solution. 

Right now, most Members of Congress – including many Republicans – don’t think it’s a good idea to put thousands of jobs at risk and do unnecessary damage to our economy. And yet the current Republican plan puts the burden of avoiding those cuts mainly on seniors and middle-class families. They would rather ask more from the vast majority of Americans and put our recovery at risk than close even a single tax loophole that benefits the wealthy.

Over the last few years, we’ve made good progress towards reducing our deficit in a balanced way. There’s no reason we can’t keep chipping away at this problem. And there’s certainly no reason that middle-class families and small businesses should suffer just because Washington couldn’t come together and eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes, or government programs that just don’t work. At a time when economists and business leaders from across the spectrum have said that our economy is poised for progress, we shouldn’t allow self-inflicted wounds to put that progress in jeopardy.

So my message to Congress is this: let’s keep working together to solve this problem. And let’s give our workers and our businesses the support they need to grow and thrive. Thanks, and have a great weekend.

President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts—called a sequester—from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs.

Here's quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

Vice President Biden's Chief of Staff Bruce Reed sat down with us to give us a quick update on the work the President and Vice President have been doing since the President released his plan to reduce gun violence.

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Weekly Address: A Balanced Approach to Growing the Economy in 2013

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC— In this week’s address, President Obama called on Congress to work together on a balanced approach to reduce our deficit and promote economic growth and job creation. Our businesses created 2.2 million jobs last year, and we just learned that our economy created more jobs over the last few months than economists originally thought.  Our economy is poised to expand in 2013 if Washington politics doesn’t get in the way, and the President called on Congress to work together to keep moving us forward.

The audio of the address and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, February 2, 2013.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
February 2, 2013

Hi, everybody. 

In the coming weeks, we face some important decisions about how to pay down our debt in a way that grows our economy and creates good jobs – decisions that will make a real difference in the strength and pace of our recovery. 

We began this year with economists and business leaders saying that we are poised to grow in 2013.  And there are real signs of progress:  Home prices are starting to climb again.  Car sales are at a five-year high.  Manufacturing is roaring back.  Our businesses created 2.2 million jobs last year.  And we just learned that our economy created more jobs over the last few months than economists originally thought. 

But this week, we also received the first estimate of America’s economic growth over the last few months.  And it reminded us that bad decisions in Washington can get in the way of our economic progress.   

We all agree that it’s critical to cut unnecessary spending.  But we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.  It hasn’t worked in the past, and it won’t work today.  It could slow down our recovery.  It could weaken our economy.  And it could cost us jobs – now, and in the future. 

What we need instead is a balanced approach; an approach that says let’s cut what we can’t afford but let’s make the investments we can’t afford to live without.  Investments in education and infrastructure, research and development – the things that will help America compete for the best jobs and new industries. 

Already, Republicans and Democrats have worked together to reduce our deficits by $2.5 trillion.  That’s a good start.  But to get the rest of the way, we need a balanced set of reforms. 

For example, we need to lower the cost of health care in programs like Medicare that are the biggest drivers of our deficit, without just passing the burden off to seniors.  And these reforms must go hand-in-hand with eliminating excess spending in our tax code, so that the wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations can’t take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren’t available to most Americans. 

2013 can be a year of solid growth, more jobs, and higher wages.  But that will only happen if we put a stop to self-inflicted wounds in Washington.  Everyone in Washington needs to focus not on politics but on what’s right for the country; on what’s right for you and your families.  That’s how we’ll get our economy growing faster.  That’s how we’ll strengthen our middle class.  And that’s how we’ll build a country that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. 

Thanks.  And have a great weekend.

Vice President Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter visit with Wounded Warriors and their medical caretakers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (RMC) in Landstuhl, Germany.

Bragging rights aren't the only thing on the line for the mayors during tonight's big game -- the winning city will also get a day of service from the mayor of the opposing team.

In this week’s address, President Obama calls on Congress to work together on a balanced approach to reduce our deficit and promote economic growth and job creation.

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For Balanced Deficit Reduction, The Next Budget Deal Must Be 90 Percent Tax Revenue

Between the recent fiscal cliff deal, the Budget Control Act of 2011, and the federal budget negotiation of Spring 2011, the United States has succeeded in reducing its deficits for the next decade by over $2 trillion. The first brought in over $600 billion in new revenue, while the two budget deals cut over $1.5 trillion in spending, including reduced interest payments on a smaller debt.

As both the Center for American Progress and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities have noted, the end result of all that leaves the country’s total deficit-reduction efforts grossly tilted towards the GOP’s priorities: spending cuts dominate new tax revenue by approximately three to one.

The CBPP’s report also fleshed out the implications of this imbalance going forward. In order to stabilize the debt for the next decade, another $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction is needed, accompanied by about $200 billion in additional interest savings. The CBPP’s numbers also show that for the final result to be a true 50-50 balance between spending cuts and tax increases, nearly 90 percent of the additional $1.2 trillion must come from revenue increases:

[E]ven if the additional savings [from $1.2 trillion in additional deficit reduction] were divided evenly between revenue increases and program cuts, the total deficit reduction under the three deficit-reduction packages would be heavily weighted toward budget cuts: 64 percent budget cuts to 36 percent revenue increases, or a ratio of nearly 2 to 1. To achieve a 50-50 split for the combined deficit-reduction packages, policymakers would have to obtain nearly 90 percent of the additional $1.2 trillion in savings from revenue increases.

In contrast, if all of the additional savings were to come from program cuts, as Republican congressional leaders have suggested, the overall ratio would be still more skewed, with more than four-fifths coming on the spending side — a ratio of nearly 5 to 1.

So the Democrats’ proposal that further deficit reduction include $1 trillion in additional revenue — which arguably denotes the far-left flank of the debate at this point — comes the closest to meeting the 50-50 test. Meanwhile, Republicans’ insistence that “the tax issue is finished” would push the country towards an even more wildly skewed result. America remains as far as ever from the ostensibly bipartisan goal of balanced deficit reduction.

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