Obama Consults with MSNBC Hosts Sharpton, Maddow on Tax Rates
'MSNBC love fest?'
4:27 PM, Dec 4, 2012
• By DANIEL HALPER
Grover Norquist: Obama "Thinks Somebody Made Him King"
GROVER NORQUIST: We were in exactly this point two years ago when the same things were discussed with Obama during the debt ceiling increase. And at the end of the day we ended up with $2.5 trillion in spending savings, and not a dollar in tax increases.Why? Because Obama overplayed his hand. He's doing it again, just as he did in 2008. He thought that the country had given him a blank sheet of paper to work on. He did the stimulus spending. He went from 70 percent support down to below 50. He lost the House.
Now he gets re-elected with less strength, not against a war hero but against a guy from Massachusetts. And the Republicans have the House and he thinks somebody made him king. And he's going to have more taxes, more spending and more regulations.
It's a real problem for him. He doesn't have the mandate he thinks he does. So, I think he takes us over the cliff because he has blinders on. He doesn't see where he stands in the universe.
Brent Bozell | December 04, 2012 | 10:17
Dec 4, 2012 2:08pm
No Fiscal Deal Without Higher Tax Rates On Rich, Obama Says
Email
President Obama today declared there would be no deal to avert
the looming fiscal cliff unless Republicans agree to raise rates on the
top 2 percent of income-earners.
“If we’re going to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with the very tough cuts that we’ve already made and the further reforms in entitlements that I’m prepared to make, that we’re going to have to see the rates on the top 2 percent go up. And we’re not going to be able to get a deal without it,” he told Bloomberg News in his first interview since the election.
“It’s not me being stubborn. It’s not me being partisan. It’s just a matter of math,” he added.
The president did, however, signal some flexibility on his campaign pledge to return tax rates on the top earners to 39.6 percent, which is what they were under former President Clinton.
“I recognize I’m not going to get 100 percent,” Obama said. “But what I’m not going to do is to agree to a plan in which we have some revenue that is vague and potentially comes out of the pockets of middle-class families in exchange for some very specific and tough entitlement cuts that would affect seniors or other folks who are vulnerable. That’s not the kind of balanced plan that I think would be good for growth, good for the economy, or good for the American people.”
The day after House Republicans sent the president a $2.2 trillion offer, the president said “unfortunately, the Speaker’s proposal right now is still out of balance.”
The Republican proposal called for $800 billion in new revenue from closing loopholes and deductions, but would not raise tax rates.
Obama said a comprehensive reform package will not be agreed on in the next two weeks, but expressed confidence a deal can be reached on the middle-class tax cuts.
“What I’ve suggested is, let’s essentially put a down payment. On taxes, let’s let tax rates on the upper-income folks go up,” he said. “And then let’s set up a process with a time certain, at the end of 2013 or the fall of 2013, where we work on tax reform, we look at what loopholes and deductions both Democrats and Republicans are willing to close, and it’s possible that we may be able to lower rates by broadening the base at that point. And I’m happy to work with them.”
–Mary Bruce and Jake Tapper
A number of Democratic leaders — including Reps. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), John Larson (Conn.) and Xavier Becerra (Calif.) — have said they would support some spending reductions in Medicare, but that cuts to direct benefits should not be a part of the negotiations. Along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), they also maintain that Social Security reform has no place at all in the "fiscal cliff" talks.
Once heralded as the key to kicking America’s foreign oil addiction by Republicans and Democrats alike, ethanol’s political fortunes have faded and the industry’s future is unclear amid a growing chorus of critics.http://freebeacon.com/end-of-ethanol/
“If we’re going to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with the very tough cuts that we’ve already made and the further reforms in entitlements that I’m prepared to make, that we’re going to have to see the rates on the top 2 percent go up. And we’re not going to be able to get a deal without it,” he told Bloomberg News in his first interview since the election.
“It’s not me being stubborn. It’s not me being partisan. It’s just a matter of math,” he added.
The president did, however, signal some flexibility on his campaign pledge to return tax rates on the top earners to 39.6 percent, which is what they were under former President Clinton.
“I recognize I’m not going to get 100 percent,” Obama said. “But what I’m not going to do is to agree to a plan in which we have some revenue that is vague and potentially comes out of the pockets of middle-class families in exchange for some very specific and tough entitlement cuts that would affect seniors or other folks who are vulnerable. That’s not the kind of balanced plan that I think would be good for growth, good for the economy, or good for the American people.”
The day after House Republicans sent the president a $2.2 trillion offer, the president said “unfortunately, the Speaker’s proposal right now is still out of balance.”
The Republican proposal called for $800 billion in new revenue from closing loopholes and deductions, but would not raise tax rates.
Obama said a comprehensive reform package will not be agreed on in the next two weeks, but expressed confidence a deal can be reached on the middle-class tax cuts.
“What I’ve suggested is, let’s essentially put a down payment. On taxes, let’s let tax rates on the upper-income folks go up,” he said. “And then let’s set up a process with a time certain, at the end of 2013 or the fall of 2013, where we work on tax reform, we look at what loopholes and deductions both Democrats and Republicans are willing to close, and it’s possible that we may be able to lower rates by broadening the base at that point. And I’m happy to work with them.”
–Mary Bruce and Jake Tapper
Hoyer: Entitlement benefit cuts on the table in talks with GOP on 'fiscal cliff'
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12/04/12 12:46 PM ET
Entitlement cuts should remain on the table as party leaders
seek to hash out an end-of-the-year budget deal, Rep. Steny Hoyer
(D-Md.) said Tuesday.A number of Democratic leaders — including Reps. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), John Larson (Conn.) and Xavier Becerra (Calif.) — have said they would support some spending reductions in Medicare, but that cuts to direct benefits should not be a part of the negotiations. Along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), they also maintain that Social Security reform has no place at all in the "fiscal cliff" talks.
End of Ethanol
Once heralded as the key to kicking America’s foreign oil addiction by Republicans and Democrats alike, ethanol’s political fortunes have faded and the industry’s future is unclear amid a growing chorus of critics.http://freebeacon.com/end-of-ethanol/
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