MEDIA CONTACT:
STEVEN ENGELHARDT (314) 504-4029
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WEDNESDAY 4.13.11

STATEMENT BY CONGRESSMAN WM. LACY CLAY (D) MISSOURI

REGARDING PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ADDRESS ON DEFICIT REDUCTION

NOTE: The following, in its entirety,is a first-person statement from Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri

-WASHINGTON, DC –

“Today, the President tackled the budget deficit in an honest and balanced way.  He told the American people the truth about how we accumulated the budget deficit and the national debt, and the tough choices that will be required to restore fiscal responsibility. Like President Obama, I strongly believe that if we’re serious about putting our fiscal house in order, then everything, including entitlements and defense spending, has to be on the table. 

Democrats and Republicans need to come together to ask everyone to sacrifice, but in doing so, we must protect seniors, working families and our most vulnerable citizens from bearing all of the pain.  We are not going to fix this problem by ending Medicare and gutting Medicaid, as House Republicans have proposed. 

As the President said, this is about more than just balancing the budget and paying down our debt; this is about what kind of America we want for the future, and how we get there together without leaving some of our fellow citizens behind.”

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