Sen. Lindsey Graham said President Barack Obama’s plan to prevent American from going over the fiscal cliff is “a joke.”
“I think we’re going over the cliff,” the South Carolina Republican said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It’s pretty clear to me they’ve made a political calculation. This offer doesn’t remotely deal with entitlement reform in a way to save Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security from imminent bankruptcy.”
Graham said he supports limiting federal income-tax deductions as a way to increase government revenues and said if the deductions are targeted correctly, they will raise between $700 and $800 billion in 10 years. He said Obama’s plan to hike tax rates on the wealthy will produce $400 billion during that period and will hurt job creation.
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“My side knows we lost the election, and we’re willing to put revenue on the table that will get some political heat for people like me,” Graham said. “That is movement in a positive way. The president’s plan does nothing but damn us to becoming Greece.”
Regarding the appointment of Susan Rice as secretary of state following her controversial remarks about the deadly Benghazi attack, Graham said he finds Rice “lacking” competence to handle such a job.
“I think her story on 16 September was a political story designed to help the president three weeks before the election, and she should be held accountable for that,” he said.
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