Republicans urge Obama to curb spending

WASHINGTON - Republicans, responding to the president's State of the Union address, urged Barack Obama to give up on new spending programs and join them instead in a drive to wrestle the federal budget deficit under control.

"Our nation is approaching a tipping point. We are at a moment where, if government's growth is left unchecked and unchallenged, America's best century will be considered our past century," said House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who gave the official GOP response to Obama's speech to Congress and the nation.

Ryan vowed that Republicans would insist on spending cuts before contemplating any increase in the government's ability to borrow.

"We believe the days of business as usual must come to an end. We hold to a couple of simple convictions: Endless borrowing is not a strategy; spending cuts have to come first," Ryan said.

Ryan will be the point man in the new House GOP majority's drive to rein in spending and bring the budget closer to balance. Yesterday's speech is the highest-profile assignment yet for a wonky former congressional staff aide who has evolved into one of his party's brightest stars.

In an unusual move, tea party favorite Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) was set to follow Ryan's response with a nationally televised speech of her own. It was originally aimed just at tea party activists but is also being broadcast live by CNN.

"Last November, many of you went to the polls and voted out big-spending politicians and you put in their place men and women who have come to Washington with a commitment to follow the Constitution and cut the size of government," Bachmann said in excerpts released last evening. "We are in the early days of a history-making turn here in the House of Representatives."