Obama says Republicans have no serious ideas for reducing nation’s mounting deficit

Obama: GOP has no ideas for lowering deficit

RICHMOND, Va. — President Barack Obama says Republican lawmakers have no serious ideas for how to reduce the nation’s deficit.

Speaking Wednesday to voters at a community center in Richmond, Va., Obama said the GOP’s proposal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans, including the very wealthy, would expand the deficit, not cut it.

The president says that while Republicans say they would make other cuts to make up the difference, they haven’t been specific about what those cuts would be.

Obama wants to extend the tax cuts for the middle class but let the tax cuts for the wealthy lapse, a plan that would cost about $1 trillion less than the GOP proposal.