White House Defends Record On Debt Deal

A senior White House official told reporters Monday that President Obama considers the deal he struck with Democrats and Republicans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling a victory for low-income and middle class families, struggling to get by in the midst of tough economic times.

During a conference call, Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett said that the President “really did protect people who are most vulnerable,” referring to the fact that the deal doesn’t touch entitlements, refrains from cutting unemployment benefits and preserves maximum funding for Pell Grants.

Jarrett said that Obama was unhappy that he wasn’t able to convince Republicans to allow new tax revenues to be part of the plan, but said that the bipartisan “super-commission” that would be created will be tasked with developing a proposal for tax reform.

Progressives around the country today have lamented the fact that the deal does not allow the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy to expire.