White House Contradicts Pelosi: 'We Have a Spending Problem'

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney : “Of course the President believes that we have a spending problem that is specifically driven by, and I think every economist who’s insights into this area are worth the paper on which his or her PhD is printed, would tell you that the principle driver when it comes to spending of our deficts and debt is healthcare spending – and that’s just a fact. What is also a fact is that we have reduced non-defense discretionary spending to it’s lowest level as a percentage of our economy since Dwight Eisenhower was President. I think only a few of you here were covering Eisenhower, so that is a long time and that doesn’t mean that we can’t (laughter)… Tom, no, okay. No, there are people who have spent a long time covering and know this stuff back and forward and know this fact, that non-defense discretionary spending has not been this low for generations.”