Original Post
August 5, 2011
Editorial
Much maligned, criticized, celebrated and congratulated, the one consistent about the federal debt ceiling increase is that it’s the water cooler talk of the moment in Watauga County and beyond. A roundup of statements taken from some of the more influential water coolers:
• We are relieved that Congress has acted on a bipartisan agreement to address the debt ceiling and prevent default to ensure that seniors will continue to receive their Social Security checks and have access to health care. — AARP CEO A. Barry Rand
• We are concerned by the requirement for additional defense cuts negotiated by a proposed bipartisan “super-committee” of 12 members of Congress. — Aerospace Industries Association
• This agreement starts us on a path forward to restoring market confidence while putting our nation on a path toward long-lasting fiscal responsibility. — American Council of Life Insurers
• Our goal will be to recommend savings that will make the most sense for our members and retain the most integrity for the farm programs that serve America’s farm and ranch families. — Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau Federation
• More taxes would slow down this critical engine of growth, jeopardizing the 9.2 million U.S. jobs our industry supports and the $86 million a day in taxes, royalties and other payments it delivers to our government. — American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard
• There are no easy options. The deal was designed to make people come together on this very controversial and divisive issue. But the same philosophical concerns are still going to be there as the process moves along. — Sander Lurie, American Pharmacists Association adviser
• We are greatly concerned that the amount of cuts already included in the deal will be most devastating for those on fixed incomes, who rely on government programs such as housing assistance, food stamps and home heating assistance, just to meet basic day-to-day needs. — Allan J. Jacobs, B’nai B’rith International president
• This is an important and positive step toward a more sustainable fiscal footing for the nation. Now, we must turn our attention to get the economy moving. — Ivan Seidenberg, Chairman of Verizon and Chairman of Business Roundtable
• The assault on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid must be met with strong Democratic resistance. — Campaign for America’s Future’s co-director Roger Hickey
• The so-called “Budget Control Act” that President Obama signed into law to increase the federal debt ceiling and reduce the federal budget deficit marks the second time the Obama administration has capitulated on tax policy to the most extreme elements in Congress, those who are least in touch with the American people and most willing to risk economic disaster to get their way. — Citizens for Tax Justice
• The draconian cuts passed are likely to mean more people out of work, more people drinking poisoned water and breathing polluted air and a slower transition to a clean energy economy. It makes no sense to cut programs for the poor while we continue giveaways to oil and gas corporations and other polluters. — Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica
• As the deficit reduction process moves forward, we urge members of Congress to consider the impact of their decisions on people with HIV disease and other medically vulnerable populations. — HIV Medicine Association
• That goal has been achieved, but nobody should believe that this is more than a stopgap measure. The culture of spending in Washington must fundamentally change going forward. — R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans
By agreeing to unprecedented spending cuts without additional revenues — not even modest tax increases on the wealthiest billionaires and corporations — lawmakers have set in motion a series of events that are almost certain to result in devastating cuts to the safety net programs that protect the most vulnerable women and families. — Debra L. Ness, president, National Partnership for Women & Families
• Moving forward, members of Congress must remember the heavier a burden our conservation programs are forced to bear in the short term, the higher a risk we face in the long term — not just in higher public health costs, but in jeopardizing the wildlife and special places that generations of Americans have protected and handed down to their children and grandchildren. — Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation
• There is still much to be done to fix the country’s long-term debt and deficit problems —including reforming the tax code and bending the curve of entitlement spending — and this bipartisan legislation moves us closer to achieving those goals. — U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue
• The deal reached by Congress and the Administration to raise the U.S. debt ceiling is a bad deal for workers. Congress has failed to offer leadership toward job creation. This legislation threatens the social safety net that seniors, children and the unemployed rely on. Even worse, leadership has capitulated to extreme demands that will further threaten the economic security of regular working people. — United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Joseph Hansen
• The most recent budget deal would likely be most devastating to communities least able to afford them: women and families hardest hit during the economic downturn. — Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund