Posted on 12/18/2012 6:56:45 AM PST by cotton1706
House Republicans, discouraged by the pace of negotiations with the White House, will move their own bill that would hike tax rates on income above $1 million, according to several sources familiar with the plans.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told President Barack Obama of his plan last night on a phone call, according to sources.
Boehner will make the argument to House Republicans that tax rates will go up on everyone come Jan. 1. “The question for us is real simple: How do we stop as many of those rate hikes as possible?” Boehner plans to tell House Republicans.
“For weeks, Senate Republicans — and a growing number of you — have been pushing for us to pivot to a ‘Plan B,’” he will say. “I think there’s a better way. But the White House just can’t seem to bring itself to agree to a “balanced” approach, and time is running short. Taxes are going up on everyone on Jan. 1. They’re baked into current law. And we have to stop whatever tax rate increases we can. In the absence of an alternative, as of this morning, a ‘modified Plan B’ is the plan.”
Boehner isn’t pulling out of negotiations with the White House to strike a sweeping $2 trillion agreement, but leadership sources say they hope this move prods the administration to move toward them.
As of Monday evening, both sides seemed close to an agreement. Boehner has moved off his insistence that tax rates not rise on the wealthy, and has offered the president $1 trillion in fresh revenue — unthinkable concessions a year ago.
But Obama and Boehner are still a considerable distance apart on taxes. Obama wants to increase tax rates on income over $400,000. Boehner wants the threshold to be set at $1 million; the House GOP proposal would keep the lower Bush-era rates in place for income brackets below that. In essence, Boehner is seeking $1 trillion in revenue and $1 trillion in cuts — but he doesn’t think the president is willing to get there.
“He talked about a ‘balanced’ approach on the campaign trail,” Boehner intends to say. “What the White House offered yesterday — $1.3 trillion in revenue for only $850 billion in spending cuts — cannot be considered balanced. We’re going to keep the door open in hopes the president can find a way to support a balanced approach.”
Of course the kenyan wants to go over the cliff. He gets his defense cuts and then can ride to the rescue with the Obama tax cuts. Only a dupe would think otherwise.
I think Boehner knows it. But he is desperate for a deal that includes some goodies for his K Street buddies.
This article is just unsanitary from a journalistic point of view. Boehner was “quoted†on what he is intended/suppose to say lol. If this is journalism/hard news story, should the journalistic profession be considered total fiction now (Rhetorical I guess since facts have been pushed aside for ideology for decades with Duranty paving the mainstream way).
“THe whole reason the Bush tax cuts are expiring is because we were too numerically weak in the Congress back then to pass tax cuts that did not expire”
And rememember why we were numerically weak: John McCain, Arlen Specter, Mike DeWine, George Voinovich and probably the sisters from Maine but I can’t remember.
These rates could have been made permanent years ago but the moderates just couldn’t abide them. I’m not forgetting and won’t vote for any more moderates. I left Scott Brown’s office blank on my ballot last month and will again should he be the nominee to fill Kerry’s seat.
IBD Editorials
Boehner Plays Santa With Major Concessions To Dems
Posted 12/17/2012 07:12 PM ET
Budget Policy: In this season of giving, no one’s been more generous than John Boehner. Three times in fiscal cliff talks, he has offered Democrats more — only to get nothing in return. He really gives till it hurts.
so much for the party of smaller government and less taxes for everyone.
the GOP(e) is dead. someone pull the plug.
The house should just pass a bill that can pass, and is acceptable to the House.
They have that authority.
let the Dems in the Senate and WH not act on it, or pass it.
JUST DO YOUR JOB, Boehner - and let the Democrats worry about theirs. You do no have to do their job for them.
December 18, 2012
Fiscal Cliff: Boehner Capitulates on Core Conservative Principles
From Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell -
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Republican leaders have done it once again. Their latest fiscal cliff proposal capitulates on core conservative principles, yielding woefully inadequate concessions from President Obama in the process. Will they ever learn?
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/
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