Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is one of the "Gang of Eight" bipartisan Senators working to resolve the nation's key fiscal challenges, plans to continue the push for spending cuts as part of any budget resolution.
In an interview with Newsmax TV, Chambliss expressed concern that spending cuts aren't being discussed simultaneously with raising the nation's debt ceiling.
Story continues below.
"My position on raising the debt ceiling all along has been that I'm not going to consider raising the debt ceiling unless we have collateral offsets of spending," Chambliss said. "I'm going to look very closely at what comes over from the House and we¹ll see how it's treated on the Senate floor. If we have an opportunity to have amendments and extensive debate, maybe I'll support it." House Republicans are currently debating a plan that would suspend enforcement of the debt ceiling until May 18 to lift the threat of an immediate government default and allow time for more negotiations.
Obamacare:
Massive New Rules Revealed for 2013
Republicans in both Houses, as well as President Barack Obama and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid have endorsed that idea.
When asked whether Republicans will have enough political clout to push back against an agenda that President Obama hinted will be more aggressive than his first term, Chambliss remains optimistic that Republicans can have an impact, saying he's proud of the work that's been achieved thus far.
"We made tax rates permanent for 99 percent of Americans and those rates are lower than we would have had in place if we had not passed the fiscal cliff deal," Chambliss said. "Rates were raised for 1 percent of taxpayers and while that's not necessarily good, we did get tax relief for 99 percent."
Addressing concerns that some taxpayers may be feeling with the expiration of the "payroll tax holiday," Chambliss said the benefit the expiration will have for the Social Security trust fund is vital for the country's fiscal health.
"While the temporary reprieve from paying 2 percent of Social Security taxes may have made paychecks bigger, it also sped up the bankruptcy of Social Security because that money came directly from the so-called Social Security tax fund," he said. "It's imperative that in this overall process and I've been involved in this for two and a half years, that we reform the entitlement programs in this country." Chambliss said it's imperative for Republicans to seize opportunities to include spending cuts and entitlement reform in any fiscal negotiations. He accused President Obama of wanting to continue current spending policies, which Chambliss believes will put the country in serious financial peril.
"We have three different back stops now between the debt ceiling, (the budget bills) and sequestration. With respect to all three, it's imperative that we negotiate with the president on spending cuts and entitlement reform. If he refuses to do that, he's jeopardizing Medicare and Social Security and he is simply not living up to his commitment to get our fiscal house in order." Chambliss believes Republicans are the only force that can stop the president from pursuing further deficit spending.
"He wants to continue down that road, if you listen to him very closely, and we can't do that. The United States is in serious financial trouble and Republicans have to take advantage of every opportunity to reduce deficit spending." Turning to the prospects for tax reform, Chambliss said the likelihood of progress in that arena relies on the willingness of the president to reform the tax code in a way that provides for economic recovery and job creation.
Obamacare:
Massive New Rules Revealed for 2013
"It's imperative that we do that through elimination of tax exclusions and deductions. We can then lower rates to provide capital investment by corporations and anytime you see capital investment, you're going to create jobs. That's what Americans what to see right now," Chambliss said.
Speaking about the dangers of the fiscal cliff in November, Chambliss told The Washington Post that dealing with only the short-term implications is putting the United States on the road to being another Greece and having riots in the streets. When asked about the implications of no long-term deal, Chambliss said failing to reach one shouldn't be considered an acceptable goal.
"If we do not get a $4 to $5 trillion deficit reduction page and it truly has to be deficit reduction what you¹re going to see is entitlements continue to choke the federal budget and become a bigger and bigger part of it," Chambliss said.
Chambliss said entitlement reform is made all the more important because Social Security benefits will be cut by about 40 percent automatically in
2032 if no steps are taken. While he doesn't anticipate riots in the streets as was seen in Greece following benefit cuts, Chambliss emphasized there's no reason to take chances.
"It's Congress' responsibility to deal with these issues and make the hard and tough decisions and the hard and tough votes. Right now, we're not seeing the kind of leadership from the White House that is going to move us in the direction of saving and protecting these programs," Chambliss said.
"That's what I hope to see with respect to the way Congress addresses the issues of real fiscal responsibility over the next few months."
Turning briefly to Libya, Chambliss said he remains frustrated that the Senate Intelligence Committee hasn't received satisfactory answers to who was responsible for the attack from the intelligence community.
"It's imperative that we bring the individuals who carried out this act to justice. That's what the president said he wanted to do, yet what have you heard from the president since his statement two or three days after the September 11th attack about bringing the individuals to justice? You've heard absolutely nothing." Chambliss said security issues kept the FBI from getting agents on the ground in Benghazi faster, which impeded progress on an investigation, but he criticized President Obama's call to place more Marines around the nation.
"We need to be very forceful with the Libyan government in trying to find out specifically who were the individuals involved some of whom we know.
"We need to bring these folks to justice."
Turning to speculation that he may face a primary opponent due to frustration among constituents that he hasn't been sufficiently conservative, Chambliss said he always follows the same plan before deciding on next steps and isn't going to be dissuaded by the presence of a primary opponent.
"What I do worry about is doing my job and what the people in my state want me to do and that is to come to Washington to make the hard and tough decisions that, frankly, some who are mentioned as running against me haven¹t been willing to make," he said. "If we don't change things, we're not going to get this country back on track." Chambliss believes making progress on jobs, education, and the nation's security are the most important to his constituents.
"Those are the kinds of issues that Georgians care about and I'm going to be right in the middle of them, solving those problems. I'm not going to be on the sidelines, throwing rocks and continuing to vote 'No' on everything."
Obamacare:
Massive New Rules Revealed for 2013
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.