Posted on 09/12/2010 5:48:13 PM PDT by roses of sharon
GOP Leader Signals Possible Support for Bush Tax Cut Extensions Just for Lower Incomes
The House Minority Leader this morning signaled that he would vote for a bill to extend those tax cuts to those who make less than $200,000 per person/$250,000 per couple, even if it does not include a provision extending those tax cuts to wealthier Americans.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said on CBS’s Face the Nation that "If the only option I have is to vote for some of those tax reductions, I'll vote for it. But I've been making the point now for months that we need to extend all the current rates for all Americans if we want to get our economy going again, and we want to get jobs in America."
Pressed again by host Bob Schieffer, Boehner said, "If the only option I have is to vote for those at $250,000 and below, of course I'm going to do that. But I'm going to do everything I can to fight to make sure that we extend the current tax rates for all Americans."
In recent days, President Obama, hoping to turn the mid-term elections from a referendum on him and Democrats to a choice between unpopular Democrats and unpopular Republicans, has in his rhetoric tried to put Boehner on the ballot. On Thursday, making an issue of the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of the year, the president said, "Let me be clear to Mr. Boehner and everyone else: We should not hold middle class tax cuts hostage any longer. We are ready, this week, to give tax cuts to every American making $250,000 or less."
A House GOP leadership source said that "Boehner's words were calculated strategically to deprive Obama of the ability to continue making false claims about Republicans holding middle class tax cuts hostage."
The aide acknowledged that Boehner's words provide "an opening that could lead to some sort of bipartisan discussion of the issue, but Boehner also made very clear that Republicans continue to believe we should freeze all the tax rates if we're going to get serious about small business job creation because Obama's plan hurts small businesses. So our focus remains the same: getting bipartisan support for a freeze on all current rates, which is one of the two things Boehner outlined last week that we should do immediately in September."
Boehner hopes that by voicing a willingness to compromise he can re-focus attention on the divisions within the Democratic party on this issue. It's unclear if Senate Democrats have enough votes to allow the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans to expire, given the support for those tax cuts continuing recently voiced by Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and possibly Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.
Obama has also shown some willingness to negotiate on the issue. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos last week, the president refused to say he’d veto a bill extending the Bush tax cuts to the top two tax brackets.
UPDATE: The White House put out a statement late today "on Representative Boehner’s Change in Position on Tax Cuts for the Middle Class."
"We welcome John Boehner's change in position and support for the middle class tax cuts, but time will tell if his actions will be anything but continued support for the failed policies that got us into this mess," the statement from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
UPDATE: Boehner issued the following statement in response to Gibbs' statement:
"Raising taxes on any American, and especially small businesses, in a struggling economy is the exact wrong thing to do, a position shared by not only by my Republican colleagues, and several of my Democratic colleagues, but by a vast number of economists.
"If the president is serious about job creation, there's a clear way forward, and that's for us to come together and pass legislation immediately that cuts spending to 2008 levels for the next year and stops all of the coming tax hikes by freezing all current tax rates for the next two years. Anything short of that may selfishly check a political box for the president, but it fails the American people.
"Instead of resorting to tired old class warfare rhetoric, pitting one working American against another, the president and the Democratic leadership should start working with us this week to ensure a fair and open debate to pass legislation to cut spending and freeze tax rates without any further delay."
-- Jake Tapper
The short answer: Yes.
“Did Boehner Blink?”
Hard to tell with that face of his. But yeah, I think so.
I hope he blinks long enough to get Michelle Bachmann elected as the NEW Madam Speaker.
No...according to Brit Hume, he quite wisely avoided a trap.
There has been to much blinking going on out there with the Republican leadership. We need people who do not blink but with a cold stare down to Obama and the dims.
“he quite wisely avoided a trap.”
Roger dodger. He can get the balance when we take ove the house. *
* I hope I hope!
People with “lower incomes” won’t be paying taxes anyway because they won’t have jobs. “The rich” will have to get rid of them so they can pay their higher Obamataxes.
Blink, kowtow, kneel, and genuflect. Like most with R's behind their names.
I think this is just HABIT for Republicans....the need to get out of their comfort zones when talking to the public.
And teach them about the perils of a nannie state!
I heard that but missed the explanation.
What was the trap?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2587734/posts?q=1&;page=1#1
From the article in this thread posted by roses of sharon:
“At a speech in Ohio earlier this week, Mr. Obama said, “With all the other budgetary pressures we have - with all the Republicans’ talk about wanting to shrink the deficit - they would have us borrow $700 billion over the next 10 years to give a tax cut of about $100,000 each to folks who are already millionaires.””
IMHO, ZERO has been caught in a BIG trap.
If he has to BORROW 700 BILLION to cover a tax cut for the “rich”, it would have to mean that ANY CBO NUMBERS put out by ZERO, concerning ANY of the crap he and the dems have passed, would have had to have numbers that reflected him NOT renewing ANY of the tax cuts.
So IMHO, if Boehner calls his hand, goes along with Zero’s idea, that would then REMOVE THAT MIDDLE CLASS TAX REVENUE from any CBO numbers Zero used to make his numbers “not cost the American taxpayer one thin dime” on ANY of his schemes he has jammed thru the dem controlled congress.
Any negotiating by Boehner could (and should IMHO) also simply add the little phrase “AND MAKE THEM PERMANENT !!”, which then throws it back in ZERO’s economic lap, making HIM the one raising taxes on the middle class in a year or two. If he gives in and signs what Boehner has NOW agreed to, he’s screwed BIG TIME because everything he ran thru CBO with the non-renewed tax cuts now makes the taxpayer have to pay more in taxes to make his numbers work, and instead of a break even deal like Zero promised, he tried to pull a fast one, counting on Boehner to NOT agree to a partial renewal, and Zero making the repubs look like “the party of NO”.
If this ever gets to Zero’s desk, there is NO WAY he can sign it because he needs EVERY DIME OF NON-RENEWAL tax revenue to make his CBO numbers even come close.
If this IS the case, imagine the political fallout from his “little scheme”. If there is a FReeper who could run some numbers on this, I would like to know if this was Zero’s plan, NOW that Boehner has called him out, all of Zero’s legislation should be able to be “reconfigured” with and without the Bush Tax Cut “renewal”.
This would then expose him as not ever planning to sign the renewal of ANY BUSH TAX CUTS!
It makes more sense to me now why his “economic team” doesn’t want to be around when this SHTF.
I don’t think it was a blink, really, more of a look at the ground, kick the dirt and meekly mumble “Awe, shucks”.
Simple. If he votes no, the blaring headlines in the MSM will be "Potential Republican Speaker against middle class tax cuts" for the next two weeks and beyond.
Something about foiling obama’s plan to blame the pubs for blocking tax cuts to the middle class.
Thanks!
I was making breakfast and the DH missed it too.
My issue is this whole topic is being characterized incorrectly. There are no “tax cuts” here. We are discussing whether Congress will increase tax rates on some or all of the tax paying population. In thew best scenario, the tax rates for 2011 will be exactly the same as 2010. In the other scenarios some or all of us will face higher tax rates in 2011 than in 2010. It is ridiculous to misrepresent that keeping the rates where they have been for more than 5 years is extending a tax cut. it is extending existing rates.
People here really, really need to learn how to play chess,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.