Geithner Defends Obama Budget
The Hill reports:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pushed back against the notion that President Obama had not shown leadership with his budget, asserting that the White House had unveiled a broad fiscal plan.
Geithner’s comments came at a Wednesday hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, where Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) told the Treasury secretary more presidential leadership was needed on areas like job creation.
“We met that test, ” Geithner responded. “You can debate the proposals, but this is a comprehensive plan.”
The White House’s budget plan for fiscal 2012 has taken heat from Republicans, strong>some Democrats< and parts of the news media, with more than a few sources saying the president had “strong>punted<” with his proposals.
Republicans on the Senate Finance panel, like many other lawmakers in their party, were highly critical of the budget’s proposals on taxing and spending. The administration has said that its budget would lower deficits by $1.1 trillion over a decade, through a mixture of two-thirds spending cuts and one-third tax increases.
Geithner is currently in the midst of a string of Capitol Hill appearances to discuss the budget. He strong>appeared< before the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday – where he also heard some Republican criticism about the budget – and is set to appear before the House Budget Committee later on Wednesday.
For her part, Snowe, who voted for the stimulus package roughly two years ago, said that measure had not worked as well as planned, noting the long string of months where unemployment stood above 9 percent.
But when the Maine senator said she thought that area needed more presidential leadership and a “master plan,” Geithner stood his ground – saying in effect that the executive branch could propose policies, but that it was up to Congress to legislate.
And, while acknowledging that the unemployment rate would continue to go down slowly, Geithner also told Snowe that he thought she was “a little dark and pessimistic about what’s happening in the economy.”
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