FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT:
HARRY SMITH: Today on a special edition of FACE THE NATION, House speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama headed for a showdown over the debt crisis. As the nation reaches the limit on its debt, both sides say it should be increased, but Republicans want strings attached.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R-Ohio/Speaker of the House): Without significant spending cuts and changes in the way we spend the American people’s money, there will be no increase in the debt limit.
HARRY SMITH: The President says, no way.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Let’s not have a-- a-- a-- the kind of linkage where we’re even talking about not raising the debt ceiling. That’s going to get done. But let’s get serious about
deficit reduction.
HARRY SMITH: Hearing what the President has to say, what does it make you think?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Well, it makes me think that he’s really not serious about tackling the big problems that face our country.
HARRY SMITH: You don’t think he’s serious about the deficit reduction?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: He’s talking about it but I’m not seeing real action.
HARRY SMITH: We’ll also get the speaker’s thoughts on the Republican plan for reforming Medicare, the mortgage crisis and what’s next after Bin Laden.
All ahead on FACE THE NATION.
ANNOUNCER: FACE THE NATION with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. And now from Washington, substituting for Bob Schieffer, Harry Smith.
HARRY SMITH: Good morning and welcome to a special edition of FACE THE NATION. We’re at the Capitol this morning and we are speaking to the Speaker of the House John Boehner. Mister Speaker, good morning.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Good morning.
HARRY SMITH: I’m going to get back to Monday when you were in New York speaking to the Economic Club and you made a lot of news because you said, you know what, we can have a conversation about raising the debt ceiling but it’s got to go hand in hand with reducing the deficit. Have you given serious thought about what parts of the deficit, what-- what would be traded here?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Well, I think it’s the time to deal with the big problems that face our country. We’ve got spending that’s out of control. We’ve got an economy that’s not producing jobs. A lot of economists believe that-- that all of the debt and all of the spending is causing uncertainty and causing job creators to sit on their hands. I used to be a small businessman. I understand what uncertainty does. And I think it’s time to deal with the pressing fiscal problems that we have here in Washington. I’ve been here for twenty years. I’ve watched leaders who look at this problem. It’s like looking up at a mountain and seeing how tall it was and how steep it was and deciding, nah, we’ll kick the can down the road. Well, guess what? We’re running out of road to kick the can down. And I want us to deal with the big problems that
are facing us here in Washington.
HARRY SMITH: We had a town meeting earlier this week with the President talking about economic issues. And we talked about that very subject. I’d like you to take a look at what he had to say. We-- we came precipitously close to a-- a government shutdown--
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Yeah.
HARRY SMITH: --within recent memory. And now the next potential real falling out is with the debt ceiling. And Speaker John Boehner said this week, “You know what, we’ll be happy to help you raise the debt ceiling. We want equivalent deficit reduction for every dollar we raise the debt ceiling.”
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Hm.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, first of all, we both agree, John Boehner and I agree that we got to reduce our deficit. Second of all, we both agree that we’ve got to raise the debt ceiling.
Now a lot of Americans, by the way, when you ask them, should we to-- increase the debt ceiling, and they say no we’ve already got enough debt. Why would we you know, increase our limit on our credit card when we can’t pay what we’ve already got on there? The-- the-- the problem is that the way the federal government finances itself is we sell debt to investors, other countries, et cetera, through Treasury bills and if at any point somebody thought-- if investors around the world thought that the full faith and credit of the United States was not being backed up. If they thought that we might renege on our IOUs, it could unravel the entire financial system. We could have a worse recession than we already had. A worse financial crisis than we had already. So we can’t even get close to not raising the debt ceiling. But we also have to reduce the deficit. And-- and what I’ve said is let’s not have a-- the kind of linkage where we’re even talking about not raising the debt ceiling. That’s going to get done. But let’s get serious about deficit reduction. And I’ve put a-- a plan on the table that takes four trillion dollars out of our-- out of our deficit and debt. The question is, are we going to have some compromise? Is it going to be balanced? Are we going to make sure that no single group, not seniors, not poor folks, not any single group is carrying the entire burden? Let’s make sure that the burden is shared for making some tough choices.
HARRY SMITH: Can you-- can you even start a conversation on that?
HARRY SMITH: Hearing what the President has to say, what does it make you think?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Well, it makes me think that he’s really not serious about tackling the big problems that face our country.
HARRY SMITH: You don’t think he’s serious about deficit reduction?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Well, he’s talking about it. But I'm not seeing real action yet. And I just think this is the moment. We all know what the problems are. Why don’t-- why don’t we just deal with them? No more kicking the can down the road. FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT in PDF FORMAT
TEXT and VIDEO CREDIT: "CBS NEWS' FACE THE NATION."
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