On NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday, Senate Republican Leader was adamant that now is the time to turn to tackling the nation’s out-of-control spending and debt. “We have a debt the size of our economy, which makes us look a lot like Greece. This administration’s driven spending as a percentage of our economy from 21% up to almost 25%. We’ve resolved the tax issue now. It’s over. It’s behind us. . . . It’s a shame that we have to use whatever leverage we have in Congress to get the president to deal with the biggest problem confronting our future. And that’s our excessive spending. . . . What we’re saying here is the biggest problem confronting the country is our excessive spending. If we’re not going to deal with it now, when are we going to deal with it? And we’ve watched the government explode over the last four years. . . . Now the question is will the president lead? Why should we have to be bringing him to the table? Why isn’t he leading us in the direction of beginning to solve our long-term debt and deficit problem? It’s perplexing to me that the president of the United States, elected to lead the country, is so reluctant to engage on the most important issue confronting our future.”

Predictably, Democrats still won’t focus on the real problem and apparently want to keep talking about raising taxes, according to The Hill. “Democrats say they want to raise as much as $1 trillion in new revenues through tax reform later this year to balance Republican demands to slash mandatory spending.”

Leader McConnell shot down Democrats’ one-track thinking on CBS’ Face the Nation, saying, “[I]t certainly underscores the voracious appetite for more taxes on the other side. The tax issue is over. We resolved that a few days ago. . . . [N]ow it’s time to pivot to the single biggest threat to our country, both in the short term and the long term. We now have a debt of $16.4 trillion. That’s as big as our economy. . . . So the question is we all know that we have this massive debt and deficit not because we tax too little but because we spend too much. The question is will the president now pivot and address the single biggest issue confront our country and its future? And that’s reducing spending. And we have a few opportunities here in the next few months, presented to us by his request to raise the debt ceiling, by the sequester kicking in, two months from now, by the continuing resolution to operate the government, plenty of opportunities to generate that discussion.”

And on ABC’s “This Week,” he emphasized, “Look, the biggest problem confronting the country is not taxes. It’s spending.  We don’t have this problem because we tax too little; we have it because we spend too much. . . . Until we address the entitlement programs and make the eligibility for entitlements meet the demographics of our country, we can’t ever solve this problem. If we want to have the kind of country for our children and grandchildren that our parents left behind for us, the time to do that is now.”

So far President Obama and Democrats have shown little interest in tackling our enormous debt and the current unsustainable trajectory of our entitlement programs. If the president refuses to lead on these absolutely critical issues, Republicans will once again use the president’s request to raise the debt ceiling and other upcoming opportunities to force a debate on spending.

Related:

Washingtontimes.com: CURL: Obama supporters shocked, angry at new tax increases

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