Romney blames Obama for apparent lack of deal on deficit

November 21, 2011|By Shira Schoenberg,, Globe Correspondent

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney served sandwiches to supporters yesterday… (Bill Greene/Globe Staff )

NASHUA - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney blamed President Obama yesterday for the apparent failure of a congressional committee to agree on how to reduce the federal deficit - precisely because the Democratic president had nothing to do with it.

“He hasn’t had any role. He’s done nothing,’’ Romney said. “This is another example of failed leadership.’’

The comments came at a rally with around 150 supporters at Nashua City Hall, where the former Massachusetts governor received the endorsement of Senator Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican, who is from Nashua.

The 12-member “supercommittee’’ - a bipartisan group tasked with finding ways to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion - is expected to admit defeat today. Such a failure could leave the fate of a payroll tax cut and extended unemployment benefits in limbo, since the president had been counting on the committee to come up with ways to pay for those benefits.

According to the conditions under which the committee was formed, the failure could also trigger $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, split evenly between defense and nondefense spending.

Romney called the defense cuts irresponsible.

“I call on the president of the United States to immediately introduce legislation that restores that cut to our military,’’ Romney said. “We cannot put America’s safety in jeopardy by virtue of the failure of this committee and the failure of his leadership.’’

Romney said Obama should have taken personal responsibility to get the supercommittee to succeed, rather than “setting a trap’’ with the proposed cuts.

Ayotte, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, echoed Romney’s words after the rally.

“We shouldn’t subjugate our national security for the failure to take on entitlement reform and the entire budget,’’ she said.

Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania who is a member of the committee, has laid out a plan that would include $800 billion in spending cuts combined with $400 billion in revenue increases. It would lower tax rates, but limit some tax breaks.

Ayotte appeared to support Toomey’s plan.

“I respect that my members, including Pat Toomey, put a serious proposal on the table that included tax reform,’’ Ayotte said. “I just hope the Democrats come back to the table on this issue.’’

Romney, however, has been hesitant to take a position. According to the Associated Press, Romney told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday: “I’m not going to sign up for it, of course, without reviewing it… . I’d like to see us have lower tax rates and have a broader base. And it sounds like their idea is looking for a way of doing that.’’