“At the name of Jesus every knee should bend,” says the Palm Sunday reading from the Letter to the Philippians. The weight of the mounting national debt threatens to bring the United States to its knees, financially speaking. Fresh off last week’s budget showdown, Republicans and Democrats now face off with competing visions on how to staunch the red ink.

The stakes this time are much higher--potential government default if the debt ceiling is not raised this spring. Last week Republicans led by Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wisc.), chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, unveiled a plan they say would cut more than $5 trillion from the deficit over 10 years with major cuts to the nation's signature health-care programs for the elderly and the poor.

Meanwhile, six senators have formed a bipartisan group to work on their own plan to rein in long-term deficits by making changes to Medicare and Medicaid and examining a fundamental overhaul of the tax system that would yield additional revenue.

On Wednesday President Barack Obama jumped into the fray with his vision for deficit reduction in a speech at George Washington University. The president indicated a willingness to work with Republicans but also indicated stark differences over how to conquer trillions of dollars of debt.

His goal, say observers, is to stake out a middle ground that calls for shared sacrifice. His plan calls for tax increases on higher-income Americans, closing of tax loopholes, and reductions in entitlement and defense spending.

“As a country that values fairness,” said Obama in calling for an end to the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, “wealthier individuals have traditionally born a greater share of this burden than the middle class or those less fortunate. This is not because we begrudge those who’ve done well--we rightly celebrate their success.

“Rather, it is a basic reflection of our belief that those who have benefitted most from our way of life can afford to give a bit more back,” said Obama. “Moreover, this belief has not hindered the success of those at the top of the income scale, who continue to do better and better with each passing year.”

While the president is likely to be criticized from all sides for his middle-ground approach, 64 senators, evenly split between the two parties, wrote to Obama last month pressing him to lead a bipartisan effort to slash the nation’s debt through spending cuts and tax increases. “I continue to believe that if we start from a bipartisan basis, we’ve got a better chance of actually getting the job done,” said Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, a leader of the Senate bipartisan effort.

Source: Articles by Jim Juhnhenn for the Associated Press and Julie Hirschfeld Davis
and Hans Nichols for Bloomberg.com