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Subscribe to RSSNBC's Domenico Montanaro reports that although some Republicans have changed their tone on a new-no-taxes pledge, they aren't putting tax rate increases on the table.
Some Republicans appear to be softening what was once a hard stance on their no-taxes pledge as the end-of-the-year deadline on the so-called “fiscal cliff” approaches.
But it’s not clear how far they would go – if they would raise rates on the wealthiest, as President Obama wants, or if they are simply willing to go along with eliminating some loopholes and deductions to raise revenue. And those who have been outspoken on the topic thus far are not seen as the key players in the ongoing negotiations.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Select Committee on Intelligence ranking member Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) gets on the Senate subway as he leaves after a hearing on the Benghazi attack November 16, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
“I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia told a local TV station from his home state. “If we do it his way then we’ll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that.”
Chambliss is one of several congressional Republicans who have indicated they might break with an anti-tax pledge pushed by activist Grover Norquist.
NBC's Chuck Todd tells Savannah Guthrie that House Republicans are stalling a compromise in the "fiscal cliff" debate, unlike the Senate, where members are more keen to strike a compromise.
On the Sunday shows and Monday morning TV, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bob Corker (R-TN), as well as Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA) -- the House minority leader -- and Peter King (R-NY), joined Chambliss in downplaying the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” Norquist’s 58-word pledge has been a mainstay in Republican politics since 1986. In 2011, every GOP presidential hopeful, including Mitt Romney (and excluding Jon Huntsman) signed it.
NBC's Domenico Montanaro reports on the increased number of pledges that Republican presidential candidates are being asked to sign in this campaign. One pledge stands apart, a no-new-taxes pledge, whose creator has influenced day-to-day legislation and is vowing to fight any effort to get find revenue in the new congressional supercommittee charged with closing the national debt.
“I agree with Grover — we shouldn’t raise rates,” Graham said on ABC, “but I think Grover is wrong when it comes to we can’t cap deductions and buy down debt.” Graham added, “I will violate the pledge, long story short, for the good of the country, only if Democrats will do entitlement reform.”
Corker told CBS on Monday: “I’m not obligated on the pledge. I made Tennesseans aware, I was just elected, the only thing I’m honoring is the oath I take when I serve, when I’m sworn in this January.”
King, of New York, said on Meet the Press Sunday: “I agree entirely with Saxby Chambliss -- a pledge you signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that Congress... I think everything should be on the table.”
Norquist, in fact, says the fact that no House Republican has voted for a tax increase in 22 years is directly a product of his pledge. Norquist does not just mandate that lawmakers not vote for tax increases, but also that any bill they sign onto has to be “revenue neutral.”
In other words, cutting deductions and loopholes, for example, would also be out if not offset by further tax cuts. But Republicans and Democrats face an end-of-the-year deadline to try and figure out a way to avert the steep military and domestic spending cuts and taxes going up for everyone when the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of the year.
USA Today's Susan Page, American Bridge 21st Century President Rodell Mollineau, and YG Action Fund Senior Adviser Brad Dayspring join Chuck Todd to talk about the impending fiscal cliff.
That some senators appear ready to talk revenue is not as significant as what House members say. It is widely believed that a deal would be struck between the White House and the House GOP, not with the Senate.
House Speaker John Boehner has said that “revenue” is on the table, but the president wants to raise rates for the wealthiest. Obama campaigned on the idea, but it’s not at all clear whether the House Republican rank-and-file would sign on to any rate increase.
Cantor, who wields some influence with the GOP conference’s more conservative members, is seen as more of a keystone, and he, too, seemed willing to go along with at least some revenue increases.
“There has been a lot said about this pledge,” Cantor said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday. “When I go to the constituents, it’s not about that pledge. It’s about trying to solve problems. House Speaker John Boehner went to the White House and said, ‘Hey, Republicans in the House are willing to put revenues on the table.’ That’s a big move.”
House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., sits down with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, John Heilemann, and Mike Barnicle to talk about Israel, Egypt, the Grover Norquist tax pledge, the future of fiscal cliff negotiations, and why not everything is on the table in tax talks.
“We were elected to fix problems,” Cantor said, before adding, “Even if you raise all those taxes, it doesn’t fix your problem.”
In a follow-up interview, Cantor’s office stressed that he remains against raising tax rates.
“Republicans aren't against tax rate hikes because of any one man or pledge,” spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said. “We are against hiking rates, because they're bad for the economy and hurt jobs. We've put ideas on the table that bring more money in while keeping tax rates where they are to produce job growth. It's now time for President Obama to put his ideas on the table for spending cuts and entitlement reform if he truly embraces a balanced approach.”
For his part, Norquist isn’t backing down. In a statement to NBC News, he took shots at the GOP senators and expressed confidence that no one would violate the pledge.
"Chambliss has been pushing this line since he joined the Gang of Six,” Norquist said. “Lindsey Graham has for two years said he would raise taxes if he got a 10:1 ratio of spending cuts through entitlement reform that could not be undone. There is no news in these two 'changing.'”
And he added, “They have not voted for a tax hike. They have had impure thoughts on present. Their impure thoughts did not change a single GOP vote in the 2011 fight over the debt ceiling which had a real deadline looming. One might have argued that the pledge died in 1990 when a sitting president and many in House leadership broke the pledge. However, the opposite happened, the pledge became more powerful when breaking it was seen to have very real consequence in 1992. After the 1994 election a majority of the House and Senate had signed the pledge."
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Who the hell elected Grover Norquist to ANYthing? The fact that one man has such influence and power over a big chunk of government is beyond scary. I'm not so naive that I don't understand how money and influence can skew the system, but I DO think that sitting by and watching this unbelievable wielding of power from OUTSIDE, is tantamount to being anesthetized with your eyes open. The fact that he can persuade elected officials to sign on to some ridiculous pledge is bad enough but the fact that he seems able to get them to pay more (homage) to him than attention to the voting public approaches the level of "high crimes" in my book.
I am always at awe with these PEE-WEE BRAIN Republicans and Tea what evers. They created the MESS from the Beginning, They these NUT cases should be BENDING head over heels for ALL of us who had to PAY and SUFFER.
They should be THANKFUL to have ALL the RICH and POWERFUL and 1-10% including their sicko asses for reimbursing the AMERICANS for their THEFT. CAVE IN and BE CORRECT to ALL AMERICANS TIME TO PAY UP. it won't hurt honest. You will be happy you did the RIGHT THING, even though you all should be PROSECUTED and JAILED.
I am continually amused at the left (Maddows) always blaming someone else. Obama has spent how much, so far? Can't really blame Bush for that one magoo. Oh and Obamacare. You're gonna have to struggle to point blame at anybody else but Obama, your savior.
Wow Alain....you are drinking some SERIOUS kool aid. Sad people like you are so uninformed and actually get to VOTE. Be careful what you wish for....your can't blame G.W. forever. Even though you all try on a daily basis. GET A CLUE for CHRIST SAKE!!!!
let's tax millionaires at 100%. maybe only then we'll all see how little an impact it makes on the deficit and we can get to work on plan B - cutting gov't spending and a installing a fair, simple tax system.
There are millions of millionares in the US. I think 100% of their income would not only wipe out the deficit but that would go a long way to paying off the debt.
And you're all for that golfsleft after all you are from the caring party! We all know rich people have no feelings anyway.
Dream on golfsleft. Buffet's worth would only cover the running of the US for about 4 1/2 days.
First, I'm referring to people with annual income (not net assets) in excess of $1 million. You can only tax income, not someone's wealth that has been accumulated over years and probably already taxed.
Fairly recent figures I saw show our annual budget deficit at $1.5 TRILLION and the total income of people earning in excess of $1 million was about half that amount. Therefore, take every single penny they earned in the year and you don't even balance that year's budget let alone chip away at the debt.
The top 1% pay over 36% of the total taxes collected by the federal government. That is over $500 billion. Now if they are like Romney and pay only 14% then increasing their tax rate to 28% would mean an additional $500 billion which is 1/3 of the deficit. So increasing their rate to 84% would cover the deficit and the top tax rate was higher than that at one point. Besides 16% of $20 million is still 3.2 million. I could live very well on that.
After a bit more research, I think the truth is somewhere in between. The top 1% had a combined AGI of $1.3 Trillion in 2009. I suspect that number will be higher for 2011 and 2012 but couldn't find stats for those years. Regardless, they paid an average tax rate of 24% (over $300 billion) so if you take what's left, it's only $1 trillion - not enough to balance the budget.
Anyway, a 100% tax rate isn't anyone's definition of fair and would only chase these taxpayers to another country so it's hardly the answer.
Why raise taxes when our congress and president are so wasteful. They refuse to cut spending and I not talking about cutting projected spending in the future, I mean what they are spending daily...today. Most folks know that taxes are necessary and most don't mind paying their taxes but the way our money is wasted is discusting.
Did you feel that way when Mr. Norquist came to power? Are you disatified with his results also?
For the REPUKES and TEA-SHYSTERS. Who are the PEOPLE MAJORITY in this COUNTRY?? it certainly NOT YOU CRAZIES.
If Mr. Norquist is who they are so beholding to, then he should pay their salary. They are doing his bidding.
This Norquist has some nerve having republican congress members sign a pledge to never raise taxes. This is outrageous and in my view an act of treason against the people of the USA. We elect representatives to represent us not a single person. Anyone signing this pledge should be arrested and jailed. The people in congress need the freedom to act in behalf of what is good for the entire country and at times that means raising taxes. We have a 16T debt that needs to be paid so there is no other way to pay it other than to raise taxes at the same time cut spending in targeted areas to balance the budget. We cannot continue down the road of ever increasing debt.
by the way...
I love this... The GOP is still promising us the same exact BS that they have been promising us in the past. Just let us have more tax cuts for the billionaires and it will rain down jobs and wealth on everyone.
It's a good thing America is starting to see this for the total BS it is! Tax cuts for the wealthy have done nothing for the working class other than bringing us to the brink of becoming the lower class while the billionaires have doubled their wealth.
Tell me idiot republican... How much more of my wealth are you going to redistribute to some billionaire before it starts to trickle back down on me?
OICY - Perhaps the most out of touch post I have ever read. MSLSD has kicked in.
" How much more of my wealth are you going to redistribute to some billionaire before it starts to trickle back down on me?"
HaHaHa funniest post I ever read. You don't have any wealth ,your a parasite who expects other people to subsidize the life you believe you deserve,even if reality dosen't support it.
Thanks for the laugh
So when are these Bush tax cuts for the rich going to create some jobs?
You're right JJD2... I'm just a working class nobody. That make me the scum of the earth in the eyes of every republican. I'm what you republicans hate the most. A working American!
So am I fool. your just too stupid to understand whats at stake
You never had a job in your pathetic life!
Middle class people don't demand more taxes for themselves and less taxes for billionaires. People who have had jobs never demand a cut in benefits. People who have had jobs never demand lower wages.
You never had a job in your life! Try it sometime!
Put down your crack pipe and try reality for a change.
i can tell by your false sense of entitlement that never came close to working as hard as I did Junior
How much more of my wealth are you going to redistribute to some billionaire before it starts to trickle back down on me?
.....70 x 7
Give me a break... You wouldn't be demanding an end to social security and medicare if you ever had to pay into it!
Get a job you worthless loser!
So when are these Bush tax cuts for the rich going to create some jobs?
All jobs that were created under the Obama first term were all results of the Bush tax cuts, under an economic depression!
Evidently the FED and Gov. Bernanke can only prevent an economic shock from happening by utilizing the monetary policy tools as counter measures in order to stir the economy to the right path. Contrary to this phenomenon, the FED is definitely helpless when the economic shock in question has been intentionally set to take place by either the White House or the Congress, or both.
All that President Obama needed to do is to play politics, and the country will find itself surely falling off the fiscal cliff. As for the Congress, filibustering and grid lock is already taking place, so therefore there's not much to be said about it; refer to former Speaker Pelosi and her cohorts. Obviously the White will find more pleasure by digging more holes by a trillion dollars a year, until we are all buried in it. It's quite unusual that the first African American President to be having a legacy of Digging Holes. But unfortunately it's what he is faced with in relation to his ideology of punishing the rich, via redistributive justice--in short taxation, in order to punish small businesses. When all the small businesses are gone, then who will pay the taxes. If all we have is Capital Losses instead of Gains, then what good is taxation, but a simple write off from the ledgers?
This is very 1970's, and the President kept on making funny speeches about "moving forward."
If the Republicans budge, President Obama must budge also. COMPROMISE. If the President does not budge, then I will be voting Republican next time for all offices in my state and for the next president.
And on other sites where the news is not spoon fed to the duped:
"Obama sends open letter to Congress casting Republicans as against the middle class and suggesting failure to accept a limited extension of tax breaks will essentially ruin Christmas for consumers and retailers."
Filthy Cowards! I'd like to see us go over the cliff -
If Grover Norquist were raped and eaten by a homosexual, rabid grizzly bear, I don't think a single American would shed a tear.
same old story...what in the HE?? are members of Congress doing signing a pledge with this guy in the first place? and the only way they will even consider this, is, what they are calling entitlements, they want them gone. Social Security and medicare have been in their sights from the inception. We ALL paid into these programs, and they are our benefits by right.
for christ sake. we just had this election, the american people spoke. they said, yes, people earning 250k and above need to pay the higher tax rates that the middle class and poor do. They said leave ss and medicare alone.
why are republicans so freakin stupid?
OK - it's time for the GOP Congressmen to take their oath of office again...
Senators, repeat after me:
I pledge allegiance to Grover Norquist
and to blocking the path of the Kenyan.
And to the 1%, for whom we stand
one nation, without a jobs bill.
With liberty and justice for the super Rich Powerful white guys that run this country...
I see Grover is threatening all TPGOP members who go back on their pledge to him. Does anyone out there know if Grover even pays taxes. Has he ever had a real job or does he make a living having silly people sign silly pledges. He probably lives off superpac money and avoids taxes all together.
Could not agree more guy - Grover needs a real job and needs to go. Give him full retirement like Jackson Jr. and say good-bye.
sure hope boehner can hold the republicans together to NOT tax the wealthiest. envy is ugly. boehner is the president of the red states, the 49% that voted against progressives. hold the line republicans. oh, and btw...most assuredly not a part of the 1%, but the 99%. just not getting the class envy aspect of our culture.
The Obozo administration is at it again.
The White House wrote a letter to Congress blaming the GOP for the impending fiscal cliff.
The POTUS is a really sore excuse for a leader. He has a moment to unite the country by compromise, and then he is back to playing politics.
Sore excuse for a leader............the Gops couldn't even come up with one.
Maobama fact be told, they are. They're so stubborn that they won't back off on their no-tax bs even though the vast majority of the wealthy are ready, willing and certainly able to pay more.
The GOP have emasculated themselves to a point where they're just a sad clown show.
How about this position... The GOP has an opportunity to show some leadership and unite the country by compromise...
Congress is to blame. I know, it, the POTUS knows it, America knows it and guess what ... congress knows it too. Everyone seems to get it but you.
Wonder why?
No politician has ever been able to keep any promises when it comes to taxes. None of them, ever. This isn't really news, but is an attempt to make the Republicans appear 'staunch' in their ability to keep promises, but we all know they lie just like the Democrats.
There is one truth that has remained true for a long time. No matter how much money we the people give to t he government, they will always spend more than they take in. These pinheads that we have in place now are no different. If everyone in America gave the government 100% of the money we make, they would spend 125%. It is a losing battle with them. Only when Americans stand up to these idiots we put in office and say no more, and mean it, will anything get done.
Vote for fiscally responsible representatives. Party is unimportant.
We had a balanced budget when Clinton was president. Then Bush started two wars and refused to pay for them and tossed in a tax cut for rich people. How did that work out?
BTW... How soon until we can subtract the cost of these wars from Obama's spending total and add them to Bush's spending total? TARP too?
A couple of things.
The budget was "balanced" because of the Republican House forcing presidnet Clinton to sign it.
Did I say that President Bush was a shining example of fiscal responsibiltiy? No, he wasn't.
Is your argument that President Obama is such a swell fiscally responsible spender? I hope you are not that blind.
When I refered to the pinheads we have in office, I was refering to ALL of them. I think we could take the first 500 people out of a phone book right now and get better results.
The budget was balanced until you republicans got your wars and tax cuts!
The GOP softens its stance on the tax pledge.............I think I smell a 'sasquatch' in the chambers.
As far as I'm concerned, anyone who makes a pledge to someone and places that pledge over their responsibilities as a government official should automatically be removed from office. It doesn't matter if the pledge is good or bad or has value or not ... there should never be a conflict of interest between the duties of an elected official and a private citizen in the form of any kind of pledge.
Anyone that supports this ... whether the pledge is good or bad ... does not have the best interests of this country in mind. Pledges like this compromise our elected officials in their abilities to act rationally and perhaps make the tough choices sometimes needed on behalf of those that elect them.
Recall anyone who has made a pledge ... either this one or another like it before its too late.
Are you for real? Have you ever politicked in Illinois it's all about what pork you can bring home to the citizens.
There is a huge difference between a signed pledge and a campaign promise.
Apples and Oranges.
How so? You pledge to protect this or that industry with government intervention or give some union money for there pension plan to win election against the overall good of the country. Just because it is not on paper doesn't make a difference.
I am all for raising taxes on the rich. Instead of going after the incomes, why not raise the capital gains taxes to 35%. I wonder how Warren Buffet would like to pay 35% of his billions to taxes.
Add a luxury tax to all items like ring, cars etc that cost more than the average salary. Homes over $1 million should be taxed at 50%. cut the number of loopholes that businesses can use to cut the tax burden. No more 0% tax for GE
It wouldn't be fair to Mitt Romney to ask him to pay taxes on a yacht, when he don't have to pay taxes on the money he is spending on that yacht.
A yacht would also be considered a luxury, which would be a 50% tax. Guess you are fixated on rich liberals and rich conservatives
Hell yes Grover must go.