In a his weekly address from Hawaii, President Obama reiterated that he will not negotiate with Republicans over raising the nation’s debt ceiling and said that any future efforts to reduce the deficit must include a combination of higher revenues and spending cuts. Obama noted that additional revenue could come from closing tax loopholes and deductions Republicans themselves sought to reform throughout the 2012 presidential election and the fiscal cliff talks but were not altered in the compromise Congress passed to avert the fiscal cliff. Congress enacted $1.7 trillion in budget cuts last year and raised $620 billion in revenue in the fiscal cliff fix, a number that is far below House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)’s offer of $800 billion during the cliff negotiations and lower than what would have been raised under Simpson-Bowles or Rivlin-Domenici. From Obama’s remarks: Read more http://thinkprogress.org/economy/20...calls-for-closing-tax-loopholes-for-the-rich/
