E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSAfter a weekend that generated skepticism about a possible deal to avert the 'fiscal cliff,' House Republicans presented a plan that includes $800 billion in new taxes, which is half of what the White House asked for. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
Updated 4:50 p.m. ET -- Republicans offered up their own proposal to avert the impending “fiscal cliff” on Monday amid Democratic demands that the GOP match the Obama administration’s plan with one of their own.
In a letter to President Barack Obama, House Republican leaders outlined the contours of a deal they said would achieve a net savings of $2.2 trillion. The plan, which is based on fiscal commission Democratic co-chairman Erskine Bowles’s proposal to the super committee, would achieve these savings through revenue from tax reforms, health savings and discretionary spending cuts.
Recommended: Income tax rates just one piece of Obama proposal
"Going over the cliff will hurt our economy and hurt job creation in our country. It’s one of the reasons the day after the election I offered a concession to try and speed this process up. Unfortunately, the White House responded with their ‘La-La-Land’ offer that couldn't pass the House or Senate and was basically the president’s budget from last February," House Speaker John Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill at a briefing detailing the plan.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Speaker John Boehner speaks during a news conference, Nov. 30, 2012, on Capitol Hill.
"We could have responded in kind, but we decided not to do that. What we’re putting forth is a credible plan that deserves serious consideration by the White House and I would hope that they would respond in a timely and responsible way," the Ohio Republican added.
Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director, said the plan "does not meet the test of balance."
"Their plan includes nothing new and provides no details on which deductions they would eliminate, which loopholes they will close or which Medicare savings they would achieve," he said. "While the president is willing to compromise to get a significant, balanced deal and believes that compromise is readily available to Congress, he is not willing to compromise on the principles of fairness and balance that include asking the wealthiest to pay higher rates ... Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won't be able to achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit our nation needs."
The counter-offer coincides with Democratic demands that Republicans produce their own proposal to match the deal offered last week by the administration. That plan, presented to Republicans by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, called for $1.6 trillion in new revenues, savings from entitlement programs and new spending on unemployment insurance and investment projects. GOP leaders rejected the plan out-of-hand.
Still, the GOP proposal on Monday appears to move no further toward compromise on Obama’s central demand that tax rates be allowed to increase on the wealthiest Americans. While Republicans have agreed in principle that richer Americans can shoulder a greater share of the tax burden, they insist this must be achieved through ending loopholes and deductions, rather than raising rates.
The Republican plan, which is also backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., achieves its $2.2 trillion in several steps.
rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., talks about the key points in President Barack Obama's fiscal cliff negotiation that are making Republicans wary.
As Republicans put it, they would raise $800 billion in new revenue through tax reform, $600 billion in health savings, $200 billion from changes to the Consumer Price Index, $300 billion in discretionary spending cuts, and another $300 billion in savings in mandatory spending. Many of the health savings track closely with the changes to Medicare first proposed in Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budgets.
Republicans say the plan, using the Obama administration’s math, would achieve $4.6 trillion in savings.
It’s unclear, though, whether the Republican plan would move toward ending the stalemate around the fiscal cliff negotiations, with less than a month remaining until the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts are scheduled to snap into place on Jan. 1.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pummeled his GOP colleagues earlier Monday afternoon, arguing that their failure to produce a counter-offer would only exacerbate the situation.
The new GOP plan reflects the posturing that has come to characterize these negotiations, separated just a month from an election which awarded Obama a second term and which kept Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the Senate.
Also on Monday, the president continued his messaging offensive on Monday with a glossy campaign-style video highlighting the cost to families if the 2001 Bush-era tax cuts were allowed to expire at the end of this month. (Obama has argued they should be extended for all but the wealthiest 2 percent of U.S. households.)
Benjamin Myers / Reuters
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner arrives at Capitol Building before a meeting with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi in Washington, D.C., Nov. 29, 2012.
The president also took to Twitter to make the case for his own plan, answering questioners who used the informal 140-character medium to ask about the fiscal cliff negotiations.
Asked by one participant why he insists on increasing rates on the top 2 percent of earners rather than limiting deductions in order to raise revenues, the president replied that capping deductions alone would not raise adequate revenue.
"Not enough revenue, unless you end charitable deductions, etc. [L]ess revenue=more cuts in education," he wrote.
The president also dismissed the GOP notion that lower taxes for the very wealthy have a trickle-down effect in terms of new hires and a larger tax pool. "High end tax cuts do least for economic growth & cost almost $1T," he wrote. "Extending middle class cuts boosts consumer demand & growth"
Obama also argued that his administration cut spending by $1 trillion last year and that he is open to further "smart cuts" as long as they don't affect education or job growth.
NBC's Frank Thorp contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
This is why the Republicans did not win the election in November. They are living in a fantasy land of the rich. They don't want to tax the rich any more than they are but they they want to take away from those who need help the most - medicare and social security. They want to keep raising the age on social security hoping we will al die before we collect our money that we put into. Do these guys even pay into social security themselves? Boehner and the rest of his cronies can all go take a hike with their ridiculous plans. If this is not resolved then we will all blame the Republicans and they can all kiss their jobs goodbye in future elections.
Wow! I see now on reading these blogs that the dems. are getting defensive. I think you won the election right? I guess things are not going the way you thought, well its tough to come down to earth and I wish you all the luck in the world with this pathetic so called president!
The President is not just the President of Democrats! We should be hoping both sides agree on something that would work instead of rooting for the Republican alternative. I see both sides stupidly cheering for their team instead of realizing this affects all of us.
Don't tax the rich at all. You know what rich people do? They spend money and hire people. They put the rest of us to work so we can buy our own stuff instead of waiting for the "God of free stuff" to shower us with other peoples money.
Don't tax the rich at all! So the middle class can afford such an increase in taxes? You might want to crunch those numbers and see what would happen to your paycheck (or lack thereof)
Study after study clearly shows cutting marginal tax rates on the rich does not cause the rich to get generous and create jobs. So when will you and other members of the regressive right drop that myth and lie. And when will you begin to recognize the real job creators are the middle class and workers who go to work everyday and make the rich rich.
Jack,
Everyone, including the President knows we can't sustain a "Tax and Spend" initiative forever. The debt must be dealt with in a much more aggressive fashion. The problem is, the President has no backbone in taking heat for the increased taxes and reduction in spending and entitlement benefits. It's the MO that the President and Harry Reid project that infuriates the Republicans. We would work much harder with you in solving the dynamic problems, if you made us part of the solution instead of painting us as the problem. You will never get real support from us if you always blame us, and you need us more than we need you.
It is not "us". This is the United States of America and both you and I are citizens affected by the same laws. Democrats and Republicans need to work together to fix this problem. Both parties have to work together...there is no other way. I am not interested in your partisan anger.
Why do I keep hearing people say "Make the top 2% pay their fair share of taxes?" Who do you think pay most of the taxes now? My best friend earned $330k last year and paid $90k in taxes. She also donated $40k to charities. She has a Master's degree that she paid for herself while earning $60-80k per year. She worked full time and raised her family while doing this. She also worked 60-70 hrs a week. In oither words, she earned her money as most hard working, willing to sacrifice American's do. Any one who is willing to step up and work hard have the same opportunities.
I personally do not want bigger government. I want people to take responsibility for their own success as I have worked all my life to do.
Your point is??? Your friend is not the 2%.
Sounds like your friend is still pretty well off even after paying all of those taxes and being super gracious. Still has way more than most so you can't stop whining for her at any time now.
Hopefully we are closer to a compromise. It is unlikely the President (and Democrats) will accept this proposal in its entirety, but at least a counter-proposal shows some sort of effort on Republican's part. This is not about which party wins out, it is about solving a problem that impacts all American citizens. I'd like to see more specifics from both parties...and that tax increase for the upper 2%!
What is so hard about everyone, I mean everyone paying their fair share of taxes. Am I missing something here?????
Got it!! And the rich should pay their fair share...... Got it!!!!!!!!!!!
Why all the fight. Shouldn't like minded people live together all working toward their common goal. Split the country after all it is already split Barracky and Bullwinkle have seen to that. They have demonized the successful people in this country like they used a mask and gun and robbed from everyone in a lower income bracket. They went out and worked hard and became successful what gives anyone the right to take from them after all the middle class makes more that the lower income so maybe they should pay more just to be fair to them.
"...Unfortunately, the White House responded with their ‘La-La-Land’ offer that couldn't pass the House or Senate and was basically the president’s budget from last February,"
And this guy is the Speaker of the House during our most tubulent and divisive American times, when we need to take immediate action to come to national agreement to move toward a more human meaning of general fairness and equality in America...
This is not the time for favoring the most favored in America. It's time to do for the average American what Republicans often claim to want to do (i.e., actually care about them and wanting to do whatever is reasonably possible to make their lives better).
Boehner, and the proposal by the Republicans, lacks sufficient specifics. However, the apparent unwillingness to raise taxes modestly on those who earn $250,000 suggests they are not serious about reducing the accelerating gap of inequality in wealth distribution. And the piece about cutting Medicare, similar to Ryan's proposal, needs to be filled in with more information. These two pieces alone, without additional specifics,makes this proposal smell like an austerity approach. And we know what that is doing to Europe.
What we need to do is get serious first about job creation and reduce the significant gap in inequality of wealth distribution. When we do, the economy will take off. There will be sufficient shared prosperity for all. And we will more easily be able to handle the debt and deficit without causing the middle class to continue its decline and stagnation or bear the burden for the debt and deficit. We will also prevent another recession.
According to the Producers of "Park Avenue", a PBS documentary on the distribution of income in America, the top 400 American billionaires over the last 40 years have had their effective tax rates cut by 50 percent. For all of you Republicans and right leaning Independents who believe giving the rich more money by not raising their taxes is going to create more future jobs; you need to ask them to identify all of the jobs they created over the last 40 years before giving them the OK to loot middle class Americans one more time.
John Boehner come on How about cutting entitlements to congress you know health care, retirment, lets vote in term limits. Lets get rid of career politicians. Freeze your assets when you enter office. If you run for political office resign your present job before running for another,
Democratic politicians would never go along with cutting their benefits. Come on the republicans have proposed all congressmen and senators be part of Obamacare instead of their $88,000 per year benefit. Which one did the Dems go for? Politicians on both sides for the most part only care about getting re-elected and getting richer.
I am a federal employee I did 8 years in the Navy and now I work on a military installation. We are in the middle of a 3 year pay freeze. I am paying my part in Financial cuts. Why can't the top 2% in earning help in this Fiscal Crisis. They just want to raise it back to where it was before Bush era. They need to suck up and realize the economy is bad and just help us 98% to ease the load.
They are going to keep this going until the very last day and both sides going to play "politics" to the end so they can say their side won...while we the working class pays for this. Thanks Obama. Thanks Boehner.
The problem is Obama doesn't want to make any cuts and he wants to add more government programs. What good is it to raise revenue with more taxes but grow the government and make the problem worse. We need more tax revenue along with spending cuts. And 47% of American workers pay no taxes. So let's just shift the burden to those that pay taxes. And who has the money to create more jobs? It is not the 47%. And I haven't had a raise in 4 years. Everyone is suffering. You can tax the rich more (although a business that makes $250,000 a year is not rich) but it doesn't address the problem that you are spending more than you are taking in.
I agree there should be both spending cuts and end of tax cuts for some. I am just frustrated that they say they will work across the asle and they dont'. Obama doesn't want to cut spending in programs that are overbudget and Republicans don't want to raise taxes on people that can afford it. I agree I can't run my house on a bright red deficit. Quicken sends me bad messages and my credit score drops if I try.
And exactly what cuts did the democrats propose in their plan. Let's see 400 million from Medicade/medicare but it would be for the next Congress to decide what the 400 million cut really was. Hate to bust your pathetic democrats heads, but this Congress can not tell the next Congress what to do. That was the only cut proposed in obamas plan. a meesly 400 million, 1.6 trillion in taxes & 50 billion in stimulus spending.
Let's see if you raise taxes on the top 2% that get's wow a whole 87 billion a year or 870 billion over 10 years. Wheres the other 800 billion going to come from?
Oh & wait, if you think that just because you earn less then 250K a year your taxes won't go up, the payroll tax expires & all those pesky new health care taxes kick in.
So you can blame Republicians or you can blame democraps, I really don't care, because in the end everyones taxes will go up one way or another! All, except that 47% of Americans who are toooooooooo cheap to pay any taxes to begin with, but want to bitch about all the free government hand-outs they get now.
Rates should not go up for anyone in this economy and certainly not to pay for a government so drunk on spending. Hold the line, go off the cliff if need be and come back and reform this mess once and for all.
In fact, we could reduce the top rates to 20-25%, both personal and corporate, if we would simply eliminate all credits, personal deductions and loopholes, for everyone. Give everyone an exclusion on any income tax up to poverty level wages, but then flat or relatively flat tax after that. The wealthy would still pay the lion share, not just a fair share but the lions share of the income tax, the very poor would only pay payroll tax for retirement and medical security. In this scenario you could even get rid of that special treatment for capital gains and other investment income that drives the wealth haters nuts. No deductions. no special interests, no picking winners and losers, equal treatment for all. Give to charity because it is the right thing to do. Pay interest on your home mortgage if you want to buy a house, not because someone else will give you a deduction for it. Make an investment in a business because it is a good investment not because the government will treat you a certain way with credits, deductions and special rates. Keep it simple and fair to all, stop the hate.
That is too simple Bill. I completely agree.
I am tired of the social engineering through the tax code. Am I the only one who never asks for a receipt when I drop things off at Goodwill? I would be screwed if I ever ran for office since I have never claimed a deduction for charitable giving.
Over 60% of the country wants the rich to pay a little more. Got it Boner? Do not weep. The rich will still be rich!
All the White House is asking for is Congress to pass the bill that keeps the Bush Tax cuts in effect for those making less than $250,000 per year and work on the rest of the of the bill for deductions and and revenue next year. That doesn't sound like to much to ask to me. So you figure out who is being the obstructionist in this scenario. The bill already passed in the Senate, just waiting for Boehner to 'wake up' and smell the roses. I personally really have a hard time seeing where Grover Norquist fits into this AT ALL. I didn't elect him, did you? I didn't even see his name on the ballot. He needs to GO AWAY.
This sounds good but the devil is in the details if they're any. While the Republican's in Congress aren't doing much, why not cut the salaries and pensions that we pay to them along with them getting their own Medical. Most of them will leave office with $400+ a year salary for the remainder of their lives. Why are we paying this? They only work maybe 2 weeks out of each month, what justifies their salaries when they're always trying to get rid of the unions who try to get pay equity for the poor and middle class. Please someone answer these questions! THEY NEED TO TAKE A SALARY/PENSION CUT JUST LIKE THEY DO PUBLIC WORKERS, SINCE THEY DON'T ACHIEVE ANYTHING ANYWAY!!!!
i am so tired of listening to the members of this do nothing congress on cutting medicare, medicaid....lets take a big chunk out of our defense budget...and lets begin with congress...do away with their cost of living pay raises. their cost of living raises in their pensions, which is unheard of with the regular working class, and of course, lets make them pay for their own medical expenses....maybe then they will feel some of what the general population is feeling...oh, and by the way, lets cut down on their staffers and stop all of their vacation time off...what have they worked this year 150 days or so....wow, wouldnt the average worker love that.....
All I can say is their has to be some middle ground, But OBAMA ran on raising taxes on the rich and taking away their loop holes and he won the election on that. So I think the GOP needs to concede to that then get this deal rolling if they won't budge on that point its no deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The rich need to pay taxes on all their earnings not just what they want to and hide the rest.
Republican Governors jobs are on the line come 2014 if the Middle Class does NOT get their tax cuts - GOP's name will be Mud, thanks to "Smoker of the House" Boehner.
If we go off the 'fiscal cliff' there will be massive tax increases and significant spending cuts. If we go with Obama's plan there will be massive tax increases, sequestration suspended (no spending cuts) and yet another massive increase in government spending. I understand fully why Republicans aren't for Obama's plan.. Either way there's a massive tax increase, at least jumping off the cliff will result in some spending cuts their looking for, something Obama and his minions seem to have no conept of or willingness to address... Obama is going to have to cut spending and the other side is going to have to raise taxes.. Question is where in the middle are they going to meet??
So the Republicans finally admit that the wealthy and corporations have received to many loopholes and tax breaks? So it finally comes out that corporate welfare is a major cause of our deficits. That tax deductions bestowed on the rich such as minimum tax rates for corporate dividends and wall street hedge funds are excessive breaks? These are major reasons our Federal budget is in deficit. The wealthy and corporations have been given to much and are not paying their fair share. Tax rates must return to pre Bush rates and this will lower the deficit greatly. Yes there needs to be budget cuts but is the entitlement programs the correct area. Our military operates on a budget that is larger than the next largest 11 countries military budgets combined. I would say there is plenty of waste there. But to Republicans that can not be touched but increased. Until these issues are ironed out I can't foresee any agreement being made. Entitlements is not the problem, it's Congress' intransigence in being political and not working for what is best for the country that is the largest stumbling block.
TO BILL IN PDX.......you obviously weren't listening...it is the SENATE'S JOB to PASS a budget....Oboma submitted a budget to the entire congress and it did not get ONE vote-it was defeated 535-0 -NO DEMS, NO SENATE, NO HOUSE, NO ONE! WE never said Obama didn't PROPOSE A BUDGET, BUT THAT THE SENATE HAS NOT PASSED ONE IN 4 YEARS-NOT EVEN THEIR OWN PRESDIENT'S-THAT'S HOW RADICAL IT WAS.
Here's my proposal:
1) all income, from all sources, taxed at the same rates
2) cap on FICA income is removed, all income subject to Social Security tax
3) serious, specific loopholes closed: mortgage interest deduction fades out above $250K AGI, maybe a deduction cap above that level instead.
4) Spending cut by elimination subsidies to ethanol, oil companies, farm subsdies
5) transaction tax on financial transactions, every transaction pays a flat tax, indexed to inflation
6) Defense spending rationalized - no more never-ending programs the DoD doesn't want just because some Congressman's district has a defense contractor's plant. Retraining and career migration support provided.
7) single-payer healthcare offered, along with the current mess. Government allowed to negotiate pharmaceutical prices, individuals allowed to source Rx's worldwide
Tax rates set to level needed to get the deficit closed out. Constitutional amendment to require equal revenue source for any new spending. I'm sure this ever happening is just as big a fantasy as the Republican's plans. Nobody is even talking about deficit going away, much less paying off any of the accumulated debt. Where are the Republicans on this? Their plan still allows multi-hundred-billion deficits forever, not a balanced budget nor any debt reductions.
The GOP notion that lower taxes for the very wealthy have a trickle-down effect in terms of new hires and a larger tax pool.
The trickle down has never worked most rich are greedy and pray on the middle and lower class to make them money and they always have been why do you think workers started unions. I'm not against the really wealthy is just that the trickle down effect is not true.
Non profits exist thru the philanthropy of the rich. Start taxing them, and the government will have to pick-up-that slack.
There are unintended consequences to everything, so with a tax increase, will be a drop in the vital services that non-profits won't be able to do! They will have to go "hat-in-hand" to the government, and the government will take over the services at 10 times the cost, and 20 times, less effective.
You're all damn fools if you think Obama is the answer.
JUst like the CRA,,,,,,"there are unintended consequences" But you-all never thought that out, did ya?
More mindless class envy BS from the "Society of Zero Work Ethic".... People who buy stock and invest with venture capital create jobs... that's not preying on the middle class you idiot, it's creating and supporting it. Looter mentaility morons like you that would eliminate property rights and dismantle capitalism would happily take us back to the serfdom of the Dark Ages... and then whine about the conditions... Socialism and Marxism have both proven time and again that trickle up poverty definitely doesn't work.
Fed Up, statistically your point isn't true, and we have 32 years of supply-side economics to prove it. People create jobs when there is demand for their product. I own a business. When I get a tax break or some other windfall, I don't hire more people. I might replace equipment. I might reward my existing employees. I might keep the profits for me and my investors. But I don't hire more people unless I need to produce more output I don't need to produce more output unless there is more demand for my product. If consumers -- the middle class -- don't have money, they don't demand my product.
That's the fallacy of the RW argument about job creators.
But that's where we're heading!! Notice how democratic supporter at Costco (CEO), just gave themselves a huge dividend before 2013, so they wouldn't have to pay 20% higer taxes next year?!? By doing so, this "stallwart" of the democratic party, cheated the government out of $4 million dollars in taxes on himself alone, not to mention the rest of the board of directors!
But it's not a hypocritical thing; "it's only business!"
That's what they crucified Romney for, and this clown that spoke at the DNC is just as much a fraud as Obama is!
I'm cutting up my Costco card!!
The Repub tax cuts have been in place for 10+ years, and unemployment is very high, so the tax cuts have not helped that; unemployment has only gotten worse. Meanwhile, during the past 10 years, many more jobs have been sent to extremely poor and communist companies by the rich to take advantage of the incredibly low wages and benefits the rich can pay there.
And, after the Repub president and congress did nothing to stop the massive 9/11 attacks, the repub president and congress started doubling military spending in general and started 2 wars, one started under false pretenses. This has added trillions to the national debt, and requires a tax increase to pay for it, especially on those who can afford it, many of whom have benefited from the wars, and all of whom have benefited the most from our capitalist country.
Fed,
Good grief! No one is talking about ending property rights. And, hopefully, we are not a class-driven country; that was the essence of feudalism and the societies of the dark ages! And stop falsely accusing people who have worked as hard or harder than anyone for many decades of being lazy. If you knew everything many who post here you would die of shame from your comments (providing you have a conscience, of course.)