Statement by Gov. Rick Perry on the Supercommittee

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry today issued the following statement on the failure of the supercommittee:

"Ultimately, responsibility for this failure lays at President Obama's feet. The whole reason a supercommittee was created was because the President wasn't willing to lead, wasn't willing to even put on paper his plans for cutting spending. It's amazing to what lengths he will go to avoid making tough decisions.  And who pays the price for Washington's failure? The American people and our military personnel, who will now be subjected to a half trillion dollars in national defense cuts?

"The President and Congress should work through the Thanksgiving holidays, work through weekends and recesses to cut federal spending, undo the damage being done to our military personnel and fix the budget mess.  Our military gets the job done in life-threatening conditions every day, it's time the President and Congress get serious about cutting federal spending and balancing the federal budget.

"The supercommittee's failure is the perfect illustration of how Washington is broken and needs to be seriously overhauled. As President, I will demand a complete overhaul of Washington, D.C. starting with a Balanced Budget Amendment, a part-time citizen Congress, and major tax and spending cuts to jump-start our economy and create good American jobs.  We can fix the system with my flat tax and serious reforms cutting taxes to a flat 20 percent, ending earmarks and corporate tax loopholes, and balancing the federal budget by 2020."