Former President Bill Clinton said on Tuesday that the U.S. is already in a recession and urged Congress to extend all the tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year.
The nation’s 42nd president told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” that current economic conditions in the U.S. constituted a "recession" and said plans to cut the deficit threaten to sink the country further into debt.
"What I think we need to do is find some way to avoid the fiscal cliff, to avoid doing anything that would contract the economy now, and then deal with what's necessary in the long term debt-reduction plans as soon as they can, which presumably would be after the election," Clinton said in a taped interview.
"They will probably have to put everything off until early next year," he added.
"That's probably the best thing to do right now. But the Republicans don't want to do that unless [President Barack Obama] agrees to extend the tax cuts permanently, including for upper-income people — and I don't think the president should do that."
But the Arkansas Democrat did say that Congress would be best off agreeing, at least for the immediate term, to extend all the tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year, including the so-called Bush tax cuts named after Clinton's successor, Republican George W. Bush.
Democrats have attacked the broad-based cuts, saying they were skewed toward upper-income earners.
But Obama countered with the proposed “Buffett Rule,” which would have imposed a surtax on millionaires. The rule was ultimately defeated.
On the nation’s current tax structure in general, Clinton defended it, saying the system wouldn't look so bad if the economy was performing better. He also told CNBC that it was reasonable to expect top earners to pay more taxes.
Clinton, like the president, blamed much of the nation’s economic woes on the foreign-debt crisis and politics. “This European thing that's having a bigger impact than people know," he said, and then added, "The thing that cost jobs here has been the Congress's policies."
Clinton has found himself in a difficult spot lately, as reports have re-emerged about his occasional ambivalence toward President Obama. He recently praised GOP challenger Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, which further underscored their differences.
Obama is "on stronger ground" when he challenges Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts, not as a businessman at Bain, Clinton told CNBC.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Bill Clinton: US in ‘Recession,’ Needs Tax-Cut Extension
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