Republican presidential candidate Ohio Governor John Kasich argued House Republicans should send the president a debt ceiling increase with spending cuts and “keep taking” the National Defense Authorization Act to the president on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”
Kasich stated [relevant exchange begins around 1:15] “What I think should be done, Greta, is I think they [House Republicans] should send him a plan that does have spending cuts and raises the debt ceiling. If he vetoes it, they’ve made their best effort. I think it’s time to start engaging in balancing the budget, that’s why I’ve put a program together that would balance the budget in 8 years, and I think if they get started in that area, I think that’s very positive. And get it to the president, and then we can have a debate about spending in this country. At the end of the day, of course, we don’t want to default. But let’s start making our positions known.”
Kasich added, “if he vetoes it, and then you go back and you go to work again. I mean — and you try to figure things out. I don’t favor defaulting. I don’t think that makes any sense, but let’s start making our position clear. The president vetoed a defense bill. You know, this was a bill to provide vital resources to the men and women in the military. He vetoed it because he wanted all other spending to go up. I think we should hold our ground on that. I think they should try to override the president on that, because we do need more money for defense, but we don’t need to raise all the spending of the government. That makes — that’s not something that I support, and not anything I would do, and so I think they ought to keep taking it to the president, and I don’t think he should play chicken by the way, with the military. We have a lot of demands. Our people need help. They need support. And even under my plan, to balance the budget in 8 years, I call for an increase in defense spending. It is necessary.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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