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Delegation Split Over Obama's Deficit Cutting Plan

Last updated on Tuesday, September 20, 2011

(UNDATED) - Indiana’s Congressional Delegation is splitting along Partisan lines on President Obama’s deficit-cutting plan.

Obama on Monday resumed the summer's battle over tax hikes, pledging to veto any debt-cutting package that cuts Medicare benefits without raising taxes on "the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations."

Seventh District Democrat Andre Carson applauds Carson's approach, declaring it's not possible to wipe out the multi-trillion-dollar deficit through spending cuts alone. But Fourth District Republican Todd Rokita makes the same argument in reverse, saying even a 100-percent tax on Obama's "millionaires and billionaires" wouldn't be enough to erase the red ink.

Rokita and other republicans are adamant that raising taxes in a recession would damage the struggling economy. Eighth District Republican Larry Bucshon notes Obama himself said exactly that in his first year in office. Carson responds the best way to ensure long-term prosperity is to pay down the debt.

Bucshon and Third District Republican Marlin Stutzman say they're open to a broader reform of the tax code. Obama says he's looking for Bipartisan cooperation to pare down the massive volumes of regulations and close loopholes. But Stutzman questions whether Obama's genuinely interested, especially if the price of tax reform includes changes to last year's health-care law.

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