Statement on the Federal Budget Negotiations

I met this morning with the bipartisan leadership -- the Speaker, the Senate majority leader, the Senate Republican leader, the House majority leader, and the House Republican leader -- to review the status of the deficit reduction negotiations.

It is clear to me that both the size of the deficit problem and the need for a package that can be enacted require all of the following: entitlement and mandatory program reform, tax revenue increases, growth incentives, discretionary spending reductions, orderly reductions in defense expenditures, and budget process reform to assure that any bipartisan agreement is enforceable and that the deficit problem is brought under responsible control. The bipartisan leadership agree with me on these points.

The budget negotiations will resume promptly with a view toward reaching substantive agreement as quickly as possible.