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Obama's Call for More Revenue Next Year Angers GOP Senators
Rollcall ^ | Dec. 31, 2012, 2:29 p.m. | Steven T. Dennis

Posted on 12/31/2012 7:32:35 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call
McCain said he believes the president’s statement “clearly will antagonize members of the House.”

With both sides on the cusp of a fiscal cliff deal, President Barack Obama vowed Monday to seek additional revenue next year alongside spending cuts. In the process, he also angered several GOP senators who said he demeaned their efforts to reach a deal.

Obama said that a year-end deal to avert tax hikes for the middle class “is within sight, but it’s not done.”

The emerging deal, which sources have pegged at around $600 billion in new revenue, would include permanent extensions of current tax rates on individuals with income up to $400,000 and couples with income up to $450,000. But Obama made clear that he would demand additional revenue as part of any package next year.

Obama has sought a much higher revenue figure — $1.3 trillion — as part of a “grand bargain” in his failed negotiations with Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio.

“My preference would have been to solve all of these problems ... in a grand bargain,” Obama said. But “with this Congress, that was obviously a little too much to hope for.”

The president said lawmakers will still have more work to do next year, including dealing with longer-term deficit reduction and growth, including investments in education and infrastructure, as well as actions that slow the growing cost of Medicare.

Obama also pointed to the scheduled automatic spending cuts.

“Revenues have to be part of the equation in turning off the sequester, as well as spending cuts,” Obama said.

As far as the deal itself, the president said it would include items he has championed, including an extension of stimulus tax breaks for tuition and families and tax breaks for wind power.

Immediate reaction from Republicans to the president’s demand for even more revenue, as well as his shots at Congress, was sharp.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., took to the Senate floor to say Obama might have alienated Republicans who were tentatively ready to support the current cliff deal, which would push decisions on the sequester and other budget issues to the new year. “I think he’s lost numbers of votes with what he did. He didn’t lose mine, I’m not like that,” Corker said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the president’s remarks were a “cheerleading, ridiculing of Republicans exercise.”

He added, “I have to wonder, and I think the American people have to wonder, whether the president really wants this issue resolved or is it to his short-term political benefit for us to go over the cliff.”

McCain also noted that he believes the president’s statement “clearly will antagonize members of the House.”

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., focused instead on getting a deal he said was in hand on the tax side of the cliff. He said lawmakers should move ahead and set aside the sequester and other issues for another day.

And while Obama’s comments caught Republicans by surprise, at least substantively they were largely consistent with previous statements he has made about his continued desire to put together a large, balanced deal to reduce the deficit, even if it has to be done in separate pieces.

In talks with Boehner, Obama had sought a tax increase of $1.3 trillion alongside about $900 billion in spending cuts — not counting interest savings. Boehner was open to a deal that raised taxes by $1 trillion and cut spending by $1 trillion.

In the emerging stopgap deal crafted by Senate leaders, tax rate increases would raise about half the amount of revenue Obama had originally wanted. However, the agreement is constructed in a way that potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in additional revenue could be raised in the future by other means such as limiting the value of tax breaks for people in the higher tax brackets.

Emily Holden and Sam Goldfarb contributed to this report.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: economy; fiscalcliff; obama; taxes
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1 posted on 12/31/2012 7:32:45 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: All

Watch for the European plan.....like a VAT tax....


2 posted on 12/31/2012 7:34:19 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

The GOP leadership is just making speeches, they are more than ready and willing to cave.


3 posted on 12/31/2012 7:40:10 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Back stabbin SOB’s the Dem’s are, Clinton did the same thing after a deal, right out talking smack never giving an inch and being a gentlemen and being mutually congratulatory about what is essentially a gentleman’s contract and being magnanimous about a small but almost joyous occassion . Then again Obama is the king of Contract Law destruction.....


4 posted on 12/31/2012 7:43:48 PM PST by taildragger (( Tighten the 5 point harness and brace for Impact Freepers, ya know it's coming..... ))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The expense cutting side of the deal, which the Reps hope will be enabled by their debt ceiling leverage, is already being undercut by a President asking for even more taxes as part of that Spring deal. Obama will use the media to impose those terms.

The Reps need courage, which means a new Speaker.

5 posted on 12/31/2012 7:44:01 PM PST by Praxeologue
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Yeah, because government needs... MORE MONEY!!! Actually the bastards should be strung up for pulling off the biggest heist in history.


6 posted on 12/31/2012 7:52:36 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: GeronL

“The GOP leadership is just making speeches, they are more than ready and willing to cave.”
_____________________________________________________

Exactly!


7 posted on 12/31/2012 7:52:46 PM PST by Artcore
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
WTF !!??!!!

They promise not to ### in their &&&&& and then they DO and they're surprised ?

8 posted on 12/31/2012 8:00:26 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: Artcore
Whores have no say in the transaction once agreed upon and engaged.

Y'got y'money, now shaddap and %%%% on it.

9 posted on 12/31/2012 8:02:01 PM PST by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Boo-hoo-Hoo. Obama said he wants to raise taxes, I am sooo shocked.

This is all the Kabuki dance.

To senate Rs : Win don’t whine.


10 posted on 12/31/2012 8:03:39 PM PST by sickoflibs (Dems go for results, meaning winning. Rs go for symbolism and whining about losing.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

When the heck are Republican “leaders” going to piss on Obama and the dems? Cut spending! Do it now! No new taxes. Cut taxes. Stop giveaways of our money! Get a backbone, and piss on the Obamites.


11 posted on 12/31/2012 8:47:34 PM PST by roadcat
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Someone on Kudlow show said VAT tax or carbon tax or both.


12 posted on 12/31/2012 8:51:16 PM PST by Rusty0604
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
This latest republican cave in just demonstrates again there is little if any difference between the parties. The election laws are rigged so there will never be a third party of any consequence. There are no alternatives, save one

SECESSION

13 posted on 12/31/2012 8:52:12 PM PST by Founding Father (The Pedophile moHAMmudd (PBUH---Pigblood be upon him))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Obama has sought a much higher revenue figure — $1.3 trillion — as part of a “grand bargain”

"Grand Theft" is more like it.

14 posted on 12/31/2012 8:55:52 PM PST by Cementjungle
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Obama knows he owns this hapless bunch of Republicans.
Sad, but true.


15 posted on 12/31/2012 9:14:17 PM PST by tennmountainman
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To: Cementjungle

How about this simple question. “why do we need more revenue?”


16 posted on 12/31/2012 9:16:39 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (You can't bring something to its knees that refuses to stand on its own)
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To: Rusty0604; All
That is where I heard it.

Fox Reporter at the Senate in Washington said no vote in the Senate until 3 or 4 AM DC Time.

No Spending cuts....

17 posted on 12/31/2012 9:22:13 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: tennmountainman

Where do we get the votes to change this sorry damn situation....that is what it is gonna take.


18 posted on 12/31/2012 9:24:16 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: EQAndyBuzz
The Dems need it to continue to build their Utopian European style of Government.
19 posted on 12/31/2012 9:26:36 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ((The Global Warming Hoax was a Criminal Act....where is Al Gore?))
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

If I knew I would be a GOP consultant making tons of money.
My personal opinion is the only outcome left is a collapse.
Decades and decades of grand bargains by hacks on both sides,
past and present, have brought this country to the brink.
We are now out numbered. Takers vs Makers.


20 posted on 12/31/2012 9:36:01 PM PST by tennmountainman
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