Obama Denounces GOP 'Pledge' as Echo of Failed Policies of Past

President Obama blasted the House Republicans' "Pledge to America" on Saturday, calling it the same old "worn out philosophy" of tax breaks for billionaires, cutting slack for Wall Street and other special interests, and letting the middle class "fend for itself."

Obama in his weekly address -- which of late has amounted to a weekly attack on GOP positions in Congress -- said the pledge includes "many of the same policies that led to the economic crisis in the first place, which isn't surprising, since many of their leaders were among the architects of that failed policy." Click play below to watch the video:

The Pledge to America, unveiled by House Republican leaders on Thursday, calls for shrinking the size of government with spending and hiring freezes, banning future tax hikes, rolling back the health care law, and strengthening national security. It's an outline of how they intend to operate if the GOP wins control of the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections in November.

In their own weekly address, the Republicans said the pledge was a "rejection of the notion that we can simply, tax, borrow and spend our way to prosperity." Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said it is "an approach focused on cutting spending, which is sadly a new idea for a Congress accustomed to always accelerating it."

But Obama said the Republicans' insistence on extending Bush-era tax cuts to families making in excess of $250,000 annually would, over time, add $700 billion to the national debt. Instead, he wants to keep the tax reductions in place for the middle class, speed up tax breaks for businesses that invest in new equipment, and add a permanent tax incentive for research and development.

His opponents in Congress, the president said, are not offering a prescription for a better future. "It's an echo of a disastrous decade we can't afford to relive."