Nothing new here. The moment there appears to be the basis for an agreement with the President, John Boehner sabotages the talks.
House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) veered off the bipartisan course he had been charting toward a broad tax-and-entitlement deal with President Obama and instead Tuesday pushed a GOP package to extend tax cuts for income up to $1 million.
The move shook the Capitol after several days of significant progress between Obama and Boehner, who had moved closer to a pact raising taxes on the wealthy and curbing government spending, including on Social Security....
...The speaker said that the White House had failed to make an acceptable offer and that, as a result, he needed to move ahead with a more limited “Plan B.” He said that time is running out before the end of the year, when more than $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts are set to take effect, and that he had to proceed with his fallback plan to ensure that most Americans do not see their taxes rise. It was unclear Tuesday whether Boehner was in large part using the plan to extract more concessions from Obama and perhaps to secure more support from House Republicans later for a big deal with the White House. ...WaPo
Given his record on negotiations, we shouldn't be surprised. What is discouraging is the continuing strength of extremists within the party in spite of what the election showed about their decline.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) called Plan B an example of how conservatives are “pulling the strings in the Republican caucus.” Reid vowed that the measure would not pass the Senate, because it falls well short of Obama’s latest offer to extend tax breaks for income up to $400,000 while increasing rates on higher income from 35 percent to 39.6 percent. ...WaPo
Even worse, the far right, notably in Boehner's caucus, is seen to be blocking any changes in gun laws, according to a report on NPR this morning. Mental health issues should be addressed along with access to guns. But there are signs that the Republican right will use the mental health issue as a way of replacing the gun issue in the national conversation -- and ultimately preventing any changes in gun control legislation.
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Gotta love Political Wire and BuzzFeed for nailing Boehner as a lie-monger.
In a press release, BuzzFeed notes House Speaker John Boehner's office said his "plan B" to extend most tax cuts would "not raise taxes. It is a net tax cut that prevents a $4.6 trillion tax hike on Jan. 1."
However, taxes would actually stay the same for most people under the proposal, and go up on people earning more than $1 million. ...Political Wire
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