WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama wants to pay for his new $450 billion jobs plan with a mixture of tax increases, spending cuts and trims to Medicare and Medicaid. He says he’ll release specifics a week from Monday along with a proposal to stabilize the country’s long-term debt.
The president told Congress Thursday night that he will ask a congressional supercommittee that’s already charged with cutting $1.5 trillion from the deficit to find additional savings to pay for his new plan.
At the same time, he says he’ll target Medicare and Medicaid ? even though Democrats oppose such cuts ? and attempt to make the wealthy pay more in taxes ? something the GOP has blocked in the past.