{"id":21175,"date":"2010-09-02T07:00:55","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T13:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=21175"},"modified":"2010-09-02T07:00:58","modified_gmt":"2010-09-02T13:00:58","slug":"debt-threatens-america%e2%80%99s-future-domenici-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/09\/debt-threatens-america%e2%80%99s-future-domenici-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Debt threatens America\u2019s future, Domenici says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Reducing the federal government\u2019s massive debt is the most important issue of the day and should be approached like fighting a war, former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a> said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could lose the war, and losing the war would mean this great democracy would cease to be a powerful force in the world,\u201d Domenici said during an afternoon session at the Domenici Public Policy Conference<\/a> at New Mexico State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children, who we promised a great life, would probably have a second-rate standard of living,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if you don\u2019t feel it yet, you should. We\u2019re kind of getting poorer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domenici is part of a think tank in Washington that\u2019s working on tackling the debt issue, the Bipartisan Policy Center<\/a>. The group\u2019s Debt Reduction Task Force<\/a>, which Domenici co-chairs, will soon be releasing its findings. Domenici said cuts to existing spending \u2013 including entitlement programs \u2013 and tax increases or other revenue raisers will both have to be on the table if the United States is going to win this war.<\/p>\n

While many in Domenici\u2019s Republican Party advocate for tax cuts and the resulting stimulation of economic growth to fix the economy, Domenici said that alone won\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I tell you that growth alone won\u2019t do this, I\u2019m not talking about theory,\u201d Domenici said. \u201cI\u2019m talking about numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Mexico\u2019s longest-serving senator, who\u2019s now 78, also acknowledged that cuts to entitlement programs won\u2019t be popular.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to ask everybody to love us,\u201d Domenici said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping and praying that the public won\u2019t hate us.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the stakes are too high to not be honest, Domenici said. When the task force of 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans got together to look for real, bipartisan solutions, he said they agreed that \u201ceverything has to be on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

The task force\u2019s report will be a \u201cbig barn burner,\u201d Domenici said, but it has to be done for the good of the nation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

ABC newsman Sam Donaldson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

Iraq war has \u2018been a terrible expense\u2019<\/h3>\n

Domenici\u2019s remarks came during a conversation with ABC newsman Sam Donaldson<\/a>, who asked Domenici about the extreme partisanship that has taken over Washington, the debt and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While Domenici talked about the other issues, he often came back to the debt.<\/p>\n

For example, asked about the formal end of combat missions in Iraq earlier this week and what the United States accomplished during the war, Domenici talked about the financial cost of the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish we never got in it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a terrible expense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domenici, a one-time supporter of the Iraq war who has gradually changed his mind, said Iraq has the potential to become one of the nations in the Middle East working for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cIraq might not be worth it, but it\u2019s done, and it might be worth it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to hope that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even before his afternoon talk, Domenici took the podium at the end of a separate talk on nuclear weapons and turned his focus toward the debt, saying the problem is so severe \u201cthat we\u2019re probably going to have to go on a literal diet\u2026 if we\u2019re going to save the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fixing the problem will require bipartisanship, and when Donaldson pushed Domenici to talk about the divisive climate in Washington, the former senator said it\u2019s currently worse than at any time during his 36 years in the Senate. He had harsh words for the leadership in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also believe that the leaders don\u2019t understand what\u2019s needed to help the members be bipartisan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Martinez, Denish, Rove on today\u2019s schedule<\/h3>\n

The candidates for governor \u2013 Republican Susana Martinez<\/a> and Democrat Diane Denish<\/a> \u2013 will be speaking at the Domenici conference at NMSU today, as will GOP strategist Karl Rove<\/a> and others. Check the full schedule here<\/a>. To watch webcasts of the talks, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Domenici and Donaldson share a laugh. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reducing the federal government\u2019s massive debt is the most important issue of the day and should be approached like fighting a war, former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici said Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[118,133,116],"class_list":["post-21175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-economy","tag-nmsu","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21175\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}