America is faced with a debt crisis and the federal government cannot cut its way out of it, U.S. Sen. Richard Burr told a group of business leaders during a Feb. 21 luncheon at Magnolia’s Raw Bar & Grille in downtown Asheville.

Burr also said some Americans will have to pay more for benefits to help resolve the problem.

He addressed the Council of Independent Owners on the issues facing the U.S. government and how those issues will affect individuals and their business. About 100 people attended.

“I believe nothing in America should be free,” Burr asserted. “I believe everybody should have some skin in the game.”

To that end, he said there needs to be a co-insurance fee of up to 50 percent for the wealthiest Americans on Medicare.

Burr also sharply disagrees with President Barack Obama’s statement that the Social Security fund is financially sustainable.

He noted that the government is set to enact the sequester, a series of sweeping budget cuts, after March 1. Then Congress will have until March 27 to reach a compromise before across-the-board cuts occur.

The sequester, which would slice $85 billion from the federal government budget, is happening because Congress, a bipartisan committee and Obama could not agree on a budget that balances spending and debt.

Burr said Republicans have tried to bring new revenue ideas to the negotiations, such as having wealthy Americans pay part of Medicare, but were told by the Obama administration that it would only consider raising taxes as new revenue in any compromise.

He said local business-owners need to take steps to help their communities. “If you are sitting and waiting for the federal government to solve it, you are making a big mistake in the interim, waiting for us to do the big things.

“Do the small things here that help change people’s lives,” Burr urged the CIBO members.