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Updated 10:48 a.m. - President Barack Obama would veto House Republicans' "Plan B" legislation should it make its way to the White House, a top administration spokesman said Wednesday.
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner may be the closest they've ever been to a fiscal cliff deal. The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports.
White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said in a statement that the GOP backup proposal -- which would preserve existing tax rates on income less than $1 million past the end of this year -- "does not meet the test of balance, and the president would veto the legislation in the unlikely event of its passage."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, unveiled the "Plan B" proposal on Tuesday amid stalled talks with Obama toward resolving the combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take place on Jan. 1 -- the so-called fiscal cliff.
The proposal would allow tax rates rise on income over $1 million, matching a previous Democratic proposal earlier this year. The administration, however, has set a lower threshold ($400,000 per year) at which it believes taxes should be allowed to rise. Moreover, the administration has argued for a more comprehensive agreement that includes spending cuts and entitlement reforms, but also new spending projects and an extension of unemployment insurance.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama walks back to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington December 18, 2012.
"The congressional Republican 'Plan B' legislation continues large tax cuts for the very wealthiest individuals - on average, millionaires would see a tax break of $50,000 - while eliminating tax cuts that 25 million students and families struggling to make ends meet depend on and ending critical incentives for our nation’s businesses," Pfeiffer said.
Republicans, as of now, plan to move forward with a set of twin votes on Thursday, one to maintain existing tax rates for those earning less than $250,000 per year (Obama's existing proposal) and the GOP "Plan B" alternative. Boehner. who is continuing to negotiate a broader deal with Obama, will likely have to pass his backup plan only with Republican support -- and even then, conservatives who are leery of raising any taxes at all may defect.
"The president urges the Republican leadership to work with us to resolve remaining differences and find a reasonable solution to this situation today instead of engaging in political exercises that increase the possibility that taxes go up on every American," Pfeiffer wrote.
"The White House’s opposition to a back-up plan to ensure taxes don’t rise on American families is growing more bizarre and irrational by the day," said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck in response. "Republicans have always said a broader, ‘balanced’ plan is the ideal solution, and we have put one forward. In the absence of a ‘balanced’ solution from the President, however, we must act to stop taxes from rising across the board in 12 days. If Democrats disapprove of this bill, then there is a simple solution: amend it in the Senate and send it back to the House."
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Of course he will. It is always his way or no way. Reminds me of a spoiled little brat. Lord liberals act as if stupidity is a virtue.
Ahhhh......the poor litle President may not get his way on taxing "millionaires and billionaires". Where else but in Obama's mind can you call a couple making $250K a millionaire and billionaire. He was offered during Simpson Bowles a $800B tax increaase and he walked away. Then he wanted $1.6 billion which became $1.2 billion. Sounds like its the POTUS that doesn't know what he wants.
Actually, it's your mind that is having a problem. A couple making 250K a year won't pay a dime more in taxes. A couple making a million dollars a year will get the Bush tax cuts on the first 250K. I know it's complicated.
Rhodes Scholar - at least you have a sense of humor.
How can there be any doubt that they really just don’t care about the people, the majority? Boehner, Cantor, Ryan, Bachmann, McConnell and more simply leave no doubt that they are owned and controlled by “the money”. They constantly perform as “puppets”, catering to “the money”, their strong supporters and masters who belligerently seek to continually feed their insatiable “more” (never enough) appetite, always pushing the country further into being a two-class society as they just egotistically compete in having it all while the majority struggles and looses. How can there be any doubt when their actions clearly demonstrate they don’t care about other than their political ambitions and serving their masters.
They can legitimately check spending but actually neither spending nor the deficit caused our problems - the repeated exploitation by the few, allowed by permissive policies characterized as “conservative”, with the few always walking away with substantial gains and leaving the drastic costs/losses to the majority did. For the Republicans to now stubbornly want to prevent any raise in taxes for the very few, the very wealthy, and to arrogantly push for a return to “more of the same”, Bush-Cheney’s style focus on serving only the few which can only result in “more of the same”, clearly identifies their myopic loyalty and shows they just take the majority for granted.
Mr Obama one of these days you have to start acting like a president. Why do you always run away from our main problems? Now you concentrate on gun control. You are not going to mislead us anymore. Quit acting of being the savior of little less important issues. Tackle the prblems we all worry about. You are a grown boy now, start acting like one.Printing money and spending it is not going to do it.!!!!!
Henry: Once again you moronic suggestions are falling on deaf ears. The people just spoke last month and they told you to take an adult, college level course in economics. Is that too much for you to comprehend?
I for one got A's in both Macro & Micro-economics in college, and a B in Finance (damn Lowes vs Home Depot investing group project, which ironically I disagreed with the group on. I put my money where my mouth was and got Home Depot stock after turning my paper in).
I would contend that printing and spending money will not spur economic growth past a certain saturation point and that no one economic theory (Austrian, supply-side, monetarist, etc) works for all situations. We've obviously reached that saturation point, and we will have STAGFLATION, not helped by oil being stuck mostly between $80 and $90/bbl.
TJefferson: the "people" didn't have much of a choice now, did they? 2 sock puppets.
paganponderer: The people got the best the GOP could come up with. It isn't as if you didn't run enough hair brained bastards in the primaries. Romney, according to your own Party's admission, is the best you had! If you had run anyone else, he or she would have been even a worse disaster!
I don't vote Republican or Democrat.
Didn't Ms Pelosi make these same suggestions a few months ago?
Nobody pays attention to Pelosi..or should they..........
Next election American should vote all GOP particularly Boehner out of congress. Opinion from a Rino. Plan B of Boehner proves the ineffectiveness of his work.
hunu: I voted for Republicans from Reagan through George H.W. Bush until it was obvious the GOP had been taken over by the poorly educated, far right wing, extremist, fanatics whom their leaders laughingly call the "Necessary Idiots." The American people recognize them as that since they have won the popular vote in only one presidential election since 1988! The GOP is in a civil war between the old RINOs and the poorly educated, far right wing, extremist, fanatics many of whom are old retired bastards who are still fighting the civil rights movement of the 60s. That's the limit of their interest. Those are the "Necessary Idiots" the GOP needs to try and win elections.
Another group of GOP members are the greedy sons-of-bitches and who want ALL the wealth. These are the American Plutocrats who have learned there are two groups of very stupid people who will support them because they hate the President. Group A are the southern white racists in both the Democrat and Republican Parties and Group B are the pathetically simple minded, equally poorly educated, extremist, fanatics in the Christian right wing who paint Jesus with a .45 in one hand and a Bible in the other. They see the President as the anti-Christ and if you actually hear these people talk you won't believe any mind could be so deranged. So, why would the plutocrats want support from people they find utterly repulsive? Because they are the "Necessary Idiots" the Plutocrats need to try and win elections.
I don't see why anyone is worried about the budget.
Any day now the money provided by Obama's "shovel ready jobs" should be boosting the economy and the record number of food stamp users (47.7 million) should be dropping. Maybe Obama's globalist buddy Jeffrey Immelt should bring a few jobs in from Brazil.
And the trickling down from Bush's tax cuts on the wealthy that have created so many jobs (in China and India probably), LOL.
[sarcasm off]
No wonder this country is in the toilet... most politicians are lawyers.
You know what you call a hundred thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean is? A good start!
Stick to your guns, Mr. Pres.! Boner has no cards to play! Let us fall off the cliff, then give tax breaks to those who really need it. Do not, however, touch s.s.i.. It is not to be on the table at all, get it? Start by fixing our over-bloated military. Start by taking away congress's pay, and only pay them for the days they actually work. Take away their health care, benefits all. That would be a good start.
Morons on the right, have no clue! They are as dense as their hero Tang Man!!! They must all have an Queer Eye for the Tang Guy??? LOL!
D -
You're the clueless one...a brain dead liberal democrat ranting for gun control and then telling Obama to stick to his guns...
Obama can't take away congressional pay but if he could his impeachment in the house and his trial in the senate would take about 5 days...with no nays to be heard...
Dee Ten: hahahahhahahaha. You're a real intellect! You've lost so many arguments in the past four years you've now become the clown of the net.
T -
Who's arguing? Just an observation any sensible person would make.
The Boner says take it or leave it? Sounds like a sound negotiating policy to me.....Don't I remember the voters giving him an answer last month?
Let the wannabe Emperor stew in the pot he and his spendaholic comrades have created.
When will you lefties get it? Obama and the Dems DO NOT WANT TO CUT ANY SPENDING FROM THE PLACES WHERE IT MATTERS! In fact, they want to spend MORE!
Obama and Reid will now have the choice. Do nothing and raise taxes on all Americans or take "plan B", get us into 2013 and take up the grand bargain on the other side.
My bet is the arrogant PRICK and his minions take us over the cliff.
actually the President told repubs to take of their ' war paint' about the fiscal cliff....SOUNDS LIKE A RACIST RANT TO ME..
had enuf of our elected ones and BOBAMA: I for one hope we do go over the fiscal cliff, particularly if it will put ignorant bastards like you in the poor house. The bill they are considering, dumbasses, is a TEA Party bill that has been "kicked down the road" since last spring. It's their answer to the debt crisis. Now, if it will cause you two to lose everything you have which probably amounts to no more than a pitiful, monthly, Social Security check, then GREAT! Take us over the cliff, Mr. President!
That's fine.......let's assume the swan dive position and go...........sooner or later an addict has to hit bottom................
That bill would never see the light of day in the Senate. Sen. Reid would certainly see to that. President Obama has vetoed NOTHING. Is it a coincidence there are many House bills that got shelved in the Senate? Or, perhaps, Sen. Reid making sure President Obama doesn't lose the copyright on "the Party of NO"?
M.J. - CT: If you had a friggin' brain, you'd understand the President is protecting your sorry ass! I wish he wouldn't! As far as I'm concerned, you and your pitiful ilk can spend the rest of your sorry lives in the poor house. That's where you ought to be anyway! You haven't enough sense to understand the GOP has stuck it to you over and over and over again and you still support them. What a friggin' dope!
Perhaps Sen. Reid is just really good at taking out the trash. There's no reason for the president - or the Senate - to waste their time on the same recirculated garbage the TP tried incessantly to cram down our throats for the past two years. They haven't yet produced a credible bill - wait, sorry, they did name a post office somewhere - and they never will because they're all idiots.
This is what happens when you get a bunch of backwoods morons screaming to "throw them all out" - they elect an equally stupid bunch and then nothing gets done.
Obama couldn't take a crap about now if he had to...his @!$%# is so tight it would squeeze a liberal's dick off...
Dee Ten: Yes, that's about the limit of your brain, and about the limit of today's "conservative" brain. Thank you for your contribution, genius.
T -
You're welcome you dickless wonder...
Actually, TJ, he's one of the brighter bulbs - he was able to spell 'dick' correctly.
Dee Ten: Yes, well another intellectual comment. Thanks for sharing the depth of your mind.
T -
Glad to do it ...to have a mind you certainly have to have someone willing to share with you...it seems to be an Obama and minions thing...this mindlessness...
Increasing taxes by itself will not stop the bleeding, we need to find a long term solutions, Close the loopholes, All deductions, exceptions, exemptions and caps should be removed and taxed at ordinary tax rates. Leveling the playing field by evenly and proportionally distributing the tax pain across every segment of our society is not re-distribution of income as is often cited. It is bringing to the forefront the past indiscretions and preferential treatments given to those who had tremendous influence and money. There is no justification for any portion of society to gain preferential treatment just because they have money or political influence to effect such.
Address entitlements immediately, NOT Social Security / Medicare, BECAUSE Social Security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. If you reduce the payout of Social Security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce the deficit. It would go into the Social Security trust fund. So Social Security has nothing to do with balancing the budget or erasing or lowering the deficit.
The one spending program that is driving us to bankruptcy, Military and Homeland Security is not touchable. In fact, Romney & Ryan even proposed increasing those further. If you are truly committed to reducing spending, start there. This is the compromise, that we need, this is the compromise that will work to achieve what we all need.
If the election outcome didn't drive the point home, then apparently we'll need to purge the rest of the GOP's in November 2014, maybe then they will get the message.
doesn't really matter what anyone on here says.
Republicians will never agree to the tax increases Democrats want so you have no deal!
Democrats will never agree to the spending cute Republicians want, so you'll have no deal!
And just for you loosers out there who still think that 98% of American will get a tx cut, if a bill is passed, think again: YOU WON'T!
To get a tax cut, Congress would actually have to reduce your tax rate. That is NO WHERE IN ANY BILL. All Congress is wanting to do is keep your tax rate THE SAME AS IT IS NOW! Plus if you raise the tax rate on the top 2%, 98% of American wouldnot see their taxes remain the same, since 49% of that bottom group DON'T PAY INCOME TAX to begin with.
So that bottom 49% could care less, if taxes go up or down, since they free load anyways!
A bill extending the Bush tax cuts for 98% has passed the senate and is sitting in the house. Boehner won't bring it up for a vote.
Boehner can't make a deal. If he does, the tea party, Grover Norquist and big money donors will be mad. And, he won't get re-elected as speaker.
let the country go bankrupt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! obama is really good at that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it's the only way you will be able to force your pitiful politicians to do their damn jobs right for a change and to get your lazy, freeloading americans off their damn ass and work for what they get like others have too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
only fools would believe obama, reid, and pelosi's plan and re-elect them !!!!!!!!!!!!
you truly are your own worse enemy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! get job !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
only fools keep spending when they don't have a dime to their name !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
welcome to the new china-they own your country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now, that's something to be proud of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
robert -
OPM to a democrat is like opium to a drug addict...
You can thank old Georgie Boy for that my man. FACT
Just tear up plan B in front of their faces
Or just get out a lighter and bring over the metal trash can
Rob -
Obama needs to stick plan b up his ass and light it...it would enlighten his mind...
The rich won't pay any more tax even if their tax rates are increased because they know how to abuse deductions to bring down their obligations. The solution to take more tax from the rich is to keep the same rate but to remove all deductions, rebate and tax cuts. Balancing budgets isn't as difficult as it seems and they can begin with cutting all programs by 20%. Then they can start to look into why don't we cut all foreign aids since we need to be selfish in order to save ourselves. How to create jobs and jump start the economy while promoting austerity? Award a bonus (as a tax deduction at the end of the year) to corporations and companies for creating each full time permanent job for each unemployed with a living wage. Will politicians cut their own salaries to show we are in it together and for the goodness of the country and economy? I don't expect they have the conscience for that but I'll be impressed if they do.
Some good points. A huge tax overhaul needs to take place.
The simple truth is that Obama can do whatever he chooses. More than half of the voters have said they will blame republicans if we go over the cliff, 70% have said they think the wealthy ought to pay more in taxes. Republicans are threatening to go over the cliff to save taxes on 2% and let whatever happens happen to the other 98%. I don't like either side and I blame both sides for this financial disaster but I don't see how republicans expect to come out of this well. They are willing to go over the political cliff to schuttle social programs they don't like. I hope it is worth it to them because I think the price might be pretty high.
50 Billion in Stimulus money in the current White House Plan; no appreciable spending cuts and the GOP is being is unreasonable? What I dont understand is why we just dont go over the cliff? Wasnt this the plan that was voted on last August in order to raise the debt ceiling? And are the Dems really fighting to extend "the big bad Bush tax cuts that got us into this mess in the first place" Holy Cow; just listen to yourselves!
No amount of taxation is going to save us unless we stop spending - no one gets it
I think republicans are coming to this party about as late as democrats. We fought two wars that were supposed to last 90 days so we did not raise taxes to pay for them. We are still in them. Additionally, democrats and republicans wanted to deregulate the financial markets and managed to burn the economy down around our ears. I hear they are after unfunded spending now but it is a little late in the game to be convincing.
I am looking forward to January 1st when everyone's tax rate goes to a normal level. We can finally lose the most mindless thing: "The Bush Tax Cuts". We will also see an immediate cut in spending, so that we will be closer to decreasing the deficit. Here are some other steps that should get us closer to a balanced budget:
1. Make all dividends and capital gains taxable as ordinary income - you won't have to worry about Buffett and Romney paying a 15% effective rate anymore.
2. Treat Social Security and Medicare like the self-funding programs they were meant to be - Toss out the cap on SS contributions, and if either program is projected to run out of money, you increase its specific tax rate.
This plan puts pain on everyone, and is the meaning of everyone paying "their fair share". Pigotry, Feisty Redhead, et al, any comments to this?
It's OK with me.
It's not often that someone gets two homeruns in two at bats, but you just did with those suggestions.
There's no reason to treat any income differently from other income, except to favor those who have more of one form than the other. To say that increasing tax on savings will reduce the amount people save makes as much sense as saying that increasing income taxes will make people work less.
Caps on contributions make the system barbarically regressive, with the lowest earners taxed to the fullest while the payments by the high earners approach 0% of their income.
I applaud you for bringing up the unmentionable topic of raising the withholding rates. It seems that nobody remembers when Ronnie tripled those rates and hardly anyone noticed. Now, everybody is screaming that we must cut - cut cut cut, doesn't matter what, just cut something - rather than look at the reality of a more expensive world than it used to be.
However, balanced budgets sound nice and warm and fuzzy but the reality is that spending - any spending, by anyone, for any reason - is what drives the economy. Cutting spending while climbing uphill out of a major recession simply makes no sense. If it's really that important to you, make a note to deal with it when we start making money again, but in the meantime getting back on our feet seems like the most critical task.