(CNSNews.com) - Now that Republicans are poised to retake the House and the Senate is still up for grabs, President Biden said Wednesday that he’s prepared to work with Republicans.
However, he said he would not be willing to support any proposal that will worsen inflation, and he pointed to Democratic legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
The president also said he refuses to support proposals by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) “to make fundamental changes to Social Security and Medicare,” and he promised to veto “any attempt to pass a national ban on abortion.”
Regardless of what the final tally in these elections show - and there's still some counting going on - I'm prepared to work with my Republican colleagues. The American people have made clear, I think, that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well. In the area of foreign policy, I hope we continue this bipartisan approach of confronting Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
When I return from the G-20 meetings in Indonesia with other world leaders, I'm going to invite the leaders of both political parties as I have done in the past on my foreign trips to the white house to discuss how we can work together for the remainder of this year and in to the next congress to advance the economic and national security priorities of the United States.
I'm open to any good ideas. I want to be very clear. I'm not going to support any Republican proposal that’s gonna make inflation worse. For example, the voters don't want to pay higher prescription costs for drugs. We've cut that now.
We're going to kick it into gear next year, the next calendar year, and I'm not going to walk away from the historic commitments we just made to take on the climate crisis. They’re not compromisable issues to me, and I won't let it happen. The voters don't want more taxes for the super -- tax cuts for the super wealthy and biggest corporations.
I'm going to continue to focus on cost cutting and building the economy from the bottom and middle out. I know you're tired of hearing me say that, but I genuinely mean it. That's what makes America grow. The wealthy do very well when the middle class is doing well and the poor have a way up and while I’ll continue to bring down the federal deficit. As we look at tax cuts, we should be looking at tax cuts for working people and middle-class people. Not the very wealthy.
They're fine. Look, if you can go out and be a multi-multimillionaire, that's great. Just pay your fair share. That’s all. Just pay your fair share. It's like those 55 corporations in 2000 that made $40 billion and didn't pay a penny in federal taxes. That's not right. Everybody has an obligation. So now they have to pay a staggering 15%. You all pay more than that for new taxes.
So I'm going to keep my commitment that no one, no one earning less than $400,000 a year - and that’s a lot of money where I come from - will see their federal taxes go up, and I want to be very clear. Under no circumstances will I support the proposals put forth by Senator Johnson and the senator from down in Florida to make fundamental changes in social security and Medicare.
That's not on the table. I will not do that. I will veto any attempt to pass a national ban on abortion, but I'm ready to compromise with the Republicans where it makes sense on many other issues. I’ll always put the needs and interests of the American people first.