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:
I love the republican party. They get the snot beat out of them in the election and so they are going to do the same stuff that lost them the election and hope for a different outcome.
Your statement only makes sense in a government that has a single branch. Democrats got the snot beat out of them in the House of Representatives. Now, they will do what their constituency told them to do. Stop the socialist onslaught. Better luck in the next election. It takes a tri-fecta in the elections to be relevant. You failed.
Twisted, I must say that your name is perfect for you. What a twisted response!
You like my name? Yeah, your God is fake.
Actually the Republicans lost 3 seats in the House and the Democrats gained 9.
It looks like the Republicans submitted what Romney ran on, no tax cuts on the wealthy, no specifics, just trust me I'll give you the details later. I thought Obama won by being very specific during the election. The Rich Must Pay Thier Fair Share. Oh well, I hope they have matresses at the bottom of the cliff for those idiots.
The rich already pay their fair share. Enough people believe it, that the Democrats couldn't win the House. Better luck next cycle.
Let it go over the cliff and THEN work out a tax break for the middle class and small businesses! That's the ONLY way we're ever going to see any curbs on military spending period!!
The proposal the Republican is proposing has no saving at all as a matter of fact it want to take from the Medicare and Social Security and if I'm not mistaken this was all part of Paul Ryan's budget and the people of this Country voted against plan during the Election.
All the house has to do is accept the Presidents Plan to keep from going over the Cliff and come back together at a later date and propose some tweets to the plan then, this would put an end to the fighting between parties now that is what you would call a compromise but really it's all about power.
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security don't pay for themselves. They are going broke. Dems just want to tax the rich more because that sounds right and want to add more government programs like Obamacare because that buys votes. Sorry Dems don't want to really fix the problem-they just want votes. Oh-let's give the President the authority to raise the debt ceiling on his own! That makes a lot of sense. Obama's proposal is laughable!
Do you not understand THERE IS NO MONEY? And this president and the dems want to keep borrowing money from future generations to the tune of trillions. There is no cutting of spending only increases of borrowed non-existent money.
Bob Costas needs to be fired! This has no place for political views and the NFL should be ashamed! I am a fan but if this continues I will not watch or go to games. NFL should control their commentators plain and simple! P.S. people die everyday from domestic violence, I know because I am a cop and see it all the time. Costas started something here and it should not be tolerated by you or any network plain and simple.
Wow, no defense cuts, why am I not surprised.
This has always bothered me about Republicans. Cold War spending... with no Cold War. It's absurd. Figure out a percentage to cut the military, such as 60%, then apply that same percentage to every single entitlement program. If that doesn't balance the budget, THEN we can talk tax increases for EVERYONE. No one gets a free ride.
Joe Blow. The American people are not as stupid as the repugnants who would of voted in a vulture capitolist cult member, anti-women, anti-poor, anti-gay, anti-middle class fool!
Cite examples of this rhetoric. Show proof of SYSTEMIC racism, sexism, etc. in the Republican Party. Not crazy outliers that are the equivalent of Jesse Jackson on the other side. Actual, real attempts by the majority of the party that support any of those positions.
The reality is the Democrats are the racist pigs. They want to classify a single immigrant group as special snowflakes, leaving other groups like Chinese and Indians out in the cold.
Women's issues have been decided by the Supreme Court, so they're irrelevant.
Their stance on marriage, etc is anti-single, not anti-gay. They want single people to remain second-class citizens. If there was no financial benefit to being married, gay people wouldn't even care.
Anti-middle class? I think you mean anti-commie-union. If you want more from your employer, take your ass out and become a competitor. Start your own business, if it's so easy.
"According to exit polls in the Nov. 6 election, Asian American voters favored Obama over Romney by a ratio of more than 3-to-1 (76 percent versus 23 percent). This has puzzled a number of Republicans."
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/11/why_did_asian_americans_vote_for_president_obama.html
Isn't it funny? I started working in the Summer of 1969. I was 14 years of age and had a Summer Youth Corp job picking up trash in the park. And at the tender age of 14 I was paying taxes. And at the age of 57 I am still paying taxes and have been gainfully employed since the Summer of 1973 when I finished H.S. And on every paycheck I ever got there was a stub attached that told me how much I made and how much the government got. I never complained I always considered that to be the cost of living safely in a country with hospitals, roads, bridges, armed services, safe medicines etc.
Ever since President Obama has been on the scene, even before he was elected to his first term in 2008. Hateful Bigoted Individuals seem to think they can change the definition of paying taxes to "Redistribution of Wealth". Never once heard taxes called that from Kennedy to Bush II.
You people really ought to quit it. Because you are pathetically SICK!!!
Well said.
Again, it is not the tax issue that is critical to our survival, it is the out of control spending. Everyone is on board with reasonable tax increases IF the spending is stopped. We cannot survive this.
Since 1975 the Earned Income Tax Credit has acted as a direct redistribution of wealth. If you never heard it called that previously, I guess you just weren't paying attention.
If taxes aren't a redistribution scheme, then what are they? Google paid $1 billion last year. How much did you contribute? Last time I looked, Article 1, Section 8 didn't list Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Welfare, Cash Assistance, Cell Phones or any of this other garbage as the Federal Government's responsibility. In fact, the 10th Amendment makes it perfectly clear that each of those programs are to be run at the State level. This country died with the Income Tax Amendment. It made individual States slaves to their Federal masters.
I'll say it again with fewer words. EVERYONE SHOULD PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE. If we need $3Trillion, then each man, woman and child should pay $10,000. If you have a family of 5, you owe $50,000.
If you don't make enough to pay this, get a second job. It's not my job to pay "your fair share".
Why should the guy who works hard and makes the most money pay the most taxes. Let's have the guy that works the least hard pay the taxes. What's unfair about this?
People will think you're crazy, but that's EXACTLY what the Constitution called for before the Income Tax Amendment. They had to amend the Constitution to allow them to start stealing from the rich to pay for the poor. It created they typical snowball effect. The VAST majority getting benefit, with no real pain to themselves. They get to play for free. No ante in the game, so no real incentive for nonsense like balancing budgets and shared responsibility and risk. This country died the day that amendment was FALSELY ratified.
Tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% must go. Then we can talk about entitlements and make some real cuts where appropriate. The GOP just doesn't get it.
Those of us in the lower middle class just do not understand what the very rich do with their tax breaks. They certainly do not create jobs.
Personally, I am willing to make some changes to adjustments in entitlements, there is a problem there. But the GOP must get rid of the tax breaks and loopholes for the filthy rich to make these changes acceptable.
The problem is obama has a bad habit of lying and going back on his word. He has to GUARANTEE spending cuts and he won't. He sez "maybe" and that means "no". If we don;t seriously sacrifice now we are doomed as a nation by 2014.
We have a spending addiction and it needs to be feed from somewhere. Tax & Spend is fine as long as the next generation is paying for it; I think people should be handed the bill by going over the cliff; contract the economy and raise unemployment. Time to take our medicine rather then kicking the can down the road.
If I would permit myself to be naively optimistic for once, I think this is a good sign. While both proposals are clearly hardballed ones, the fact that the Republicans walked back from their insistence that they don't need to put any proposals on the table may be taken as a sign that despite their over-the-top rhetoric, they do in fact recognize the reality that they need to make a deal here.
I do not necessarily put too much stock into initial negotiation proposals. These start positions are generally always designed to be extreme and not to be immediately acceptable to the other side.
Time will tell if the Republicans will negotiate in good faith or not.
Where are the defense cuts?
John Boehner aka Mr Bonehead has only one proposal, MAKE OBAMA FAIL. That's the only proposal he and the "Fuehrer " McConnell have to give the country....
You are a partisan idiot. If we don;t do serious cuts we are ruined and in the 2 years. Don;t you get it? THERE is no money even if we take all the rich guys money it wouldn;t make a dent in this debt that obama wants to raise again.
I just got my health care premium for next year. My health care rates doubled over last year. Thank you Obama. Get ready people if you have any money Obama is going to come take it from you.
i'm not being nosey,but can you tell us what you do to earn a living,be as vague as you like but head the posters in a right direction,thanks,maybe you can tell us what kind of plan you have.
i didn't think i'd get an answer from you,thanks anyway,if you do answer jump to the end the posts are fast and furious today.
why do you on the Left agree to trillions in added debt that YOU are not paying for?
when do YOU pay it back?
what money are YOU earning and YOU paying to the federal govt. for YOUR share of federal spending?
why am I to blame for not wanting more of my money wasted for your utopian programs that never end, when YOU are not paying YOUR share of what YOU are TAKING????
The Republican party should just go to hell!!! They are nothing but obstructionist, racist and puppets to the Tea Party and Rush Limbaugh. They have no other leadership within this party.
Yes-let's have no more Republicans so the Democrats can tax and spend and tax and spend and keep their voters happy. FDR's tax policies were so progressive during the depression that Businesses chose not to make a profit but just break even because of the taxes a business endured if they made a profit. Who creates jobs? Not the government. The taxpayers and businesses create jobs. Government doesn't creat jobs.
Do you realize how crazy you sound? No answers, no logic, only weird rants. You are what is fatal to this nation. I can see how we are being viewed as the Wehrmacht-it's people like you who sound like the nazis of old.
Two Dads - I find it disheartening to see comments like yours. You - like so many others - blame only one party. You seem to blindly follow what the Dems say. Open your eyes, sweetie - and I'm not being condescending or sarcastic. I say this as one American to another. We all need to come together and see that being divided will surely sink this great nation. The TRUE problem lies in D.C, period. ALL of our elected officials are corrupt and self-serving. Don't believe the lies of either party. We MUST come together, sweep DC clean, demand accountability, and get a 'blood transfusion' of new public servants with term limits to help us get back on track.
seig heil,go buy a bavarian motor works aka BMW,they killed a lot of americans circa 1942,but we are too forgiving.
I'm sick of mainly Half of Congress getting millions from companies and rich people to bury us. Things weren't so bad until Bush did his tax cut thing and suddenly we are in a severe recession. He started two wars which had to happen but he left the bill for the next guy to pay. If we reverse his tax plan can't we reverse the recession? Let's find out! We need to rebuild our nation's infrastructure because everything is falling apart. Dwight Eisehower built the original infrastructure by levying a 90+% tax on the super wealthy and no one seemed to suffer or kill themselves! One more thing: EVERYONE in Washington works for ME and I say before anyone cuts my Social Security or Medicare they had better cut their wages, perks and pensions first. Who do they think they are?
its a hot post this day,the only new hires the pols talk about are low paying service jobs,dollar store,mickey dee's ,most people don't realize the good jobs have been taken over to the followers of mao in china,these people,both sides know our goose is cooked,but they won't share it with us.
you do understand that those 2% bankroll the party !!!
The Gaitner plan is certain death. What a brainiac
Hey American Soldier. I respect our military first but you are right, You can't fix stupid and I am sorry that so many of the repukes fit in that category. Like a woman has away of shutting that down or trickle down. How about the way they screw military vets that sustain injury's. Since you started the name calling, let me remind you that as military you defend ALL AMERICANS and COUNTRY. NOT JUST REPUBLICANS! You sound a little like a ROB ME or LYING RYAN sound bite. Have Great Day!
I see the publican are back at it I think they story go's like this Are their not Poor house or Jail.and you want me to give
hey boner stop with the football comparisans you are a fagit period!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to this marine your stabs at acting like a man are pathetic stop embarressing your female family members we all know you are a draft dodgeing bitch!!!!! better yet coward blo0w your f@#cking brains out and save us the trouble you are a pathetic piece of @!$%# and are a legend only in your own mind as are all rep. i am a tough guy (us marine) and father of 4 marines and father inlaw to another while you (sir) are a coward nough said except to say you are the apitomy of the word @!$%#
you said what i was thinking,he served in his daddy's bar protecting the booze while im sure the good men of ohio went to the service,i don't know how these half-wits look in the mirror.
"revenue from tax reforms"........ie, tax everyone
The Reps are about to get creamed in the next elections. Their "job creators" aren't creating anything, but they keep making more and more money. I guess the Reps will just grab a cushy job at the 1%ers companies after they get kicked out of office.