Rep. Jerrold Nadler: Federal deficit being cut too fast

Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York took aim at the conventional wisdom on Sunday morning, saying the government was cutting the federal deficit too quickly.

His comments came during a MSNBC panel discussion about President Barack Obama's budget plan.

"If you look at the deficit, we brought it down in three years from 10.1 percent of GDP to 7.1 percent of GDP -- this year it will be about five and a half," he explained in the latter half of the segment. "That's the largest deficit reduction -- fastest -- since the demobilization after World War II. It is too fast. It is having an inhibiting effect on economic growth and employment."

Nadler said the deficit should only be addressed once the country had solved its unemployment problem.

"Our immediate problem is an economy which is going to stay at 7.6 percent unemployment indefinitely," he remarked. "Already, we have a contractionary fiscal policy that is inhibiting the economy. We should, from an economic point of view, be increasing the deficit right now somewhat."

The New York congressman said Obama caved to Republican talking points about reducing the federal deficit in his latest budget. The budget would reduce the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years by raising taxes on the rich and cutting Social Security benefits, among other measures.

Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC, below:

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