Geithner plays pitchman for federal budget

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Senate leaders Wednesday that healthcare reform was a "moral imperative," as well as an economic one.

Speaking to members of the Senate Committee on Finance in a hearing on the 2010 federal budget, Geithner said, "healthcare reform is a moral imperative, it's an economic imperative and it's a fiscal imperative."

"The soaring cost of healthcare is crippling families, business and our long-term budget prospects," Geithner said. "There is no path to addressing our long-term entitlement challenges that does not require major healthcare reform."

Geithner also made pitches for increased spending on education and for the budget's attempts to "reduce our dependence on foreign oil." The budget included a "significant commitment" to taking the country toward "a new green economy," he said.

On the revenue side, "I want to emphasize that we propose no new revenue increases … until we are safely into recovery in 2011," he said.

The budget proposal also takes steps to reduce the national deficit. "If we do not do this, then we face the risk that government's borrowing will over time crowd out private borrowing resulting in higher interest costs and weaker growth," he said.