Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor George Soros said Democratic President Barack Obama “has lost control of the agenda” on the U.S. economy, leaving it “now in the hands of the Republican Party.”
Republicans “are going to pursue a very strong effort to cut services by refusing to have any tax increases,” Soros said in an interview with CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” program.
“I think this agenda will be successful,” though it will be “more directed at cutting services and achieving the ideological purposes of the Republicans rather than to get the economy going,” Soros, 80, said, according to excerpts of the interview released by CNN. “I think this will have a negative impact on the economy.”
The White House had no immediate comment on Soros’s remarks on the program, scheduled to be broadcast Feb. 20.
Obama and Democrats face a fight over cutting the federal budget with Republicans, who gained control of the House of Representatives and reduced Democratic Senate control in November’s elections.
The president sent Congress on Feb. 14 a $3.7 trillion budget for fiscal year 2012 that projects the federal deficit will exceed $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive year. The deficit is forecast to hit a record $1.6 trillion in fiscal 2011. House Republicans are pushing a proposal to cut at least $61 billion from this year’s spending.
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