Dem Rep. Himes on Support for Cuts Tied to Debt Ceiling: People Only Want ‘Abstract’ Cuts — Saying You Want Cuts Has Negative Impacts

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) reacted to a CNN poll showing that most Americans, including most independents, and 45% of Democrats think the debt ceiling should only be raised if it is tied to spending cuts by stating that people really only want to cut spending “In the abstract” and “saying that you want to cut spending is a little bit like saying, do you want to eat ice cream? Yes, I want to eat ice cream, but guess what, I do that for a long period of time, there’s going to be some implications.” And cuts that aren’t to Medicare, Social Security, and defense aren’t meaningful.

Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “A brand new CNN poll released today shows 60% of Americans say Congress should only raise the nation’s debt ceiling if it cuts spending at the same time. Democrats say the two shouldn’t be linked, as you know. Is your party, though, out of touch right now with Americans on this very sensitive issue?”

Himes answered, “Wolf, here’s the thing: I’ve been doing this for a little while and I’ve had probably hundreds of town hall meetings. In the abstract, Americans want to cut spending. We want to cut spending, yes, cut spending. Okay, do you want to cut defense spending? Absolutely not. By the way, that’s the position of the Republicans. Do you want to cut Social Security spending? Absolutely not. Do you want to cut Medicare spending? Absolutely not. The three things I just named for you are 3/4s of the federal budget. So, in the abstract, people want to cut spending, when you actually get into what those cuts are, whether it’s farm subsidies or Medicare or Social Security, oh, no, no, no, at that point, nobody wants to cut spending. So, saying that you want to cut spending is a little bit like saying, do you want to eat ice cream? Yes, I want to eat ice cream, but guess what, I do that for a long period of time, there’s going to be some implications. So, the whole polling thing, unless you can tell me what spending you want to cut that is meaningful that you’re willing to say, I want to cut Medicare, I want to cut Social Security, I want to cut defense spending, you’re just talking about ice cream.”

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