Johanns: Obama’s budget speech just “rhetoric”

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April 14th, 2011

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Omaha, NE – Nebraska’s Republican Senator Mike Johanns largely dismissed President Obama’s budget speech Wednesday calling it simply: campaign rhetoric.

Sen. Johanns dismissed President Obama's budget speech as simply rhetoric. (Photo courtesy Wikimedia)

“I’m calling on Congress to reform our individual tax code so that it’s fair and simple,” the President said in his speech, “so that the amount of taxes you pay isn’t determined by what kind of accountant you can afford.”

“You look at what the President’s saying and it’s just rhetoric,” Johanns said in his weekly conference call with reporters. He added President Obama’s call for rolling back the Bush-era tax cuts for America’s wealthiest earners won’t curb the country’s rising debt.

“I think if you asked Warren Buffett do you need a tax break, he’d say no,” Johanns said, “but I think what he would say is that this country has to get its debt under control because this isn’t going to turn out well.”

Obama also addressed the rising costs of Medicaid and Medicare in his budget speech, but dismissed a plan many Republicans have signed on to from Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. That plan has been criticized by Democrats as simply an effort to privatize the programs. But Johanns said Ryan’s plan would give more flexibility to the states.

“It basically says look, we’re going to give you the freedom to design the best way to provide medical coverage for poor people in your state,” Johanns said.

“Medicare’s heading to insolvency. In 25 years, all the IOUs are paid off in Social Security. That’s the radical plan. The radical plan is to just dig our heads deeper into the sand and ignore this.”

Nebraska’s Democratic Senator Ben Nelson gave his response on Wednesday, saying he won’t support the President’s tax plan, but that he does support his efforts to reform Medicaid and Medicare.

One Response

  1. Richard Reese says:

    You are so full of ****. It was your party that jacked the debt up with an illegal war and tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans. Have you ever slept out on the street at night, woken to ice crystals on your face? You have no idea how much people are suffering these days.

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