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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - We need an Obama in Singapore...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">12:39 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>8232.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>
'The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don't. I work for the American people,' he said. 'I didn't come here to do the same thing we've been doing or to take small steps forward. I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November.'
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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Obama ready to do battle with lobbyists
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>US President says budget plan won't sit well with insurers, oil majors and banks </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Washington - A combative President Barack Obama warned yesterday that he was bracing himself for a fight against powerful lobbyists and special interest groups seeking to pick apart the massive budget he wants to advance his reforms.
The US$3.55 trillion (S$5.42 trillion) blueprint, with its massive US$1.75 trillion deficit for this fiscal year and US$1.17 trillion deficit for the next year and tax hikes on the wealthy, seeks to squeeze billions of dollars in savings through competition between insurers and ending subsidies and tax breaks for banks, agribusiness and oil companies.
'These steps won't sit well with the special interests (groups) and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business,' the President said in his weekly radio address. 'I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I.'
The Republicans have warned that Democratic spending priorities threaten to destroy the American dream - that hard work can build a better life for each successive generation.
Senator Richard Burr said: 'This week, the President submitted to Congress the single largest increase in federal spending in the history of the US, while driving the deficit to levels that were once thought impossible.'
Mr Obama said his budget plan delivered on the changes he promised in his election campaign: tax cuts for 95 per cent of working Americans, a rollback in tax breaks for people making over US$250,000, lower health- care costs, education reform and an expansion in the use of clean, renewable energy.
The President said his budget also reflected the fact that the US faces a financial crisis, a costly recession and a trillion-dollar deficit. He said a page-by-page examination of the federal bud-
get had identified US$2 trillion in potential savings over 10 years.
'I realise that passing this budget won't be easy,' he said. 'Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington.'
The insurance industry would not like having to bid competitively to participate in the Medicare programme for the elderly, but it would help reduce costs, Mr Obama said.
He also said banks and big lenders would not like losing their taxpayer subsidies, but it would save nearly US$50 billion and make college more affordable.
Oil companies would not like losing US$30 billion in tax breaks, but it was needed to fund renewable energy research.
'The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don't. I work for the American people,' he said. 'I didn't come here to do the same thing we've been doing or to take small steps forward. I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November.'
[email protected]
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'The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don't. I work for the American people,' he said. 'I didn't come here to do the same thing we've been doing or to take small steps forward. I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November.'
________________________________________________________________
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Obama ready to do battle with lobbyists
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>US President says budget plan won't sit well with insurers, oil majors and banks </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Washington - A combative President Barack Obama warned yesterday that he was bracing himself for a fight against powerful lobbyists and special interest groups seeking to pick apart the massive budget he wants to advance his reforms.
The US$3.55 trillion (S$5.42 trillion) blueprint, with its massive US$1.75 trillion deficit for this fiscal year and US$1.17 trillion deficit for the next year and tax hikes on the wealthy, seeks to squeeze billions of dollars in savings through competition between insurers and ending subsidies and tax breaks for banks, agribusiness and oil companies.
'These steps won't sit well with the special interests (groups) and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business,' the President said in his weekly radio address. 'I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I.'
The Republicans have warned that Democratic spending priorities threaten to destroy the American dream - that hard work can build a better life for each successive generation.
Senator Richard Burr said: 'This week, the President submitted to Congress the single largest increase in federal spending in the history of the US, while driving the deficit to levels that were once thought impossible.'
Mr Obama said his budget plan delivered on the changes he promised in his election campaign: tax cuts for 95 per cent of working Americans, a rollback in tax breaks for people making over US$250,000, lower health- care costs, education reform and an expansion in the use of clean, renewable energy.
The President said his budget also reflected the fact that the US faces a financial crisis, a costly recession and a trillion-dollar deficit. He said a page-by-page examination of the federal bud-
get had identified US$2 trillion in potential savings over 10 years.
'I realise that passing this budget won't be easy,' he said. 'Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington.'
The insurance industry would not like having to bid competitively to participate in the Medicare programme for the elderly, but it would help reduce costs, Mr Obama said.
He also said banks and big lenders would not like losing their taxpayer subsidies, but it would save nearly US$50 billion and make college more affordable.
Oil companies would not like losing US$30 billion in tax breaks, but it was needed to fund renewable energy research.
'The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don't. I work for the American people,' he said. 'I didn't come here to do the same thing we've been doing or to take small steps forward. I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November.'
[email protected]
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