Obama Caves – Will Extend Bush Tax Cuts
Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, December 6, 2010, 6:18 PM
Barack Obama finally caved to Republican demands and will not raise taxes in January on America’s top earners. The president cut a deal with Republicans on extending the Bush tax cuts.
FOX News reported:
The Obama administration, as part of last-minute negotiations with congressional leaders over the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts, is proposing a one-year payroll tax reduction that would cut the amount contributed to Social Security from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, a senior congressional aide confirmed to Fox Business.
News of the proposed payroll tax reduction, originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, came ahead of a White House news conference Monday evening in which President Obama renewed his calls for tax relief targeting the middle class and his criticism of making tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent.
But in the end, he said, a compromise must be reached before the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of the year, because letting the cuts expire “would be a chilling prospect for the American people.”
Ordinary Americans would become “collateral damage for political warfare in Washington,” he said. “I am not willing to let that happen.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell released this statement:
U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Monday regarding a framework of a bipartisan agreement to prevent tax hikes on every American taxpayer :
“I appreciate the determined efforts of the President and Vice President in working with Republicans on a bipartisan plan to prevent a tax hike on any American and in creating incentives for economic growth. Their efforts reflect a growing bipartisan belief that a new direction is needed if we are to revive the economy and help put millions of Americans back to work. Members of the Senate and House will review this bipartisan agreement, but I am optimistic that Democrats in Congress will show the same openness to preventing tax hikes the administration has already shown.”
The left is in full meltdown.
Check out the comments at The Huffington Post.
gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com
Krauthammer on Obama's Televised Tax Announcement: He Was Addressing Daily Kos, NYT and MoveOn
By Noel Sheppard | December 06, 2010 | 20:25
Charles Krauthammer on Monday said that when Barack Obama spoke to the nation hours ago to announce a tax extension compromise just reached with Republicans, "It was actually a speech addressed at Daily Kos, the New York Times, and MoveOn."
In Krauthammer's view expressed on Fox's "Special Report," "This was a speech aimed at appeasing the Left which is extremely angry over this" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BRET BAIER, HOST: Just moments ago, a very senior GOP aide e-mailed saying, "Finally, President Obama is using the bully pulpit. It's about time. Though it's ironic and somewhat amusing that he's having to use it against his own Democrats." So, there you see some of the early reaction to the President's words. Let's bring in our panel for some reaction. Jonah Goldberg, at large editor of National Review Online, A. B. Stoddard, associate editor of The Hill, and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. Charles, your thoughts?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Well, I was struck by the tone and by the audience. This is ostensibly a speech to the American people. It was actually a speech addressed at Daily Kos, the New York Times, and MoveOn. This was a speech that was rather partisan. Interestingly, it's about the first agreement and supposedly the first step in a new era of comity in Washington, but it was quite partisan. He attacked the Republican ideas. He said he disagrees with them strongly, but he had to compromise. This was a speech aimed at appeasing the Left which is extremely angry over this</b., and it laid out the details of the agreement. We came in a few seconds left, a few seconds after it started, but generally when you get a deal like this, he mentions the opposition and the leaders and he thanks them, and he says how wonderful it was entering in these negotiations and reaching the agreement. I didn't hear any of that, which is odd for the first step on a new, a new kind of a tone in Washington.
Is Krauthammer right?
Consider that at Daily Kos, as the details of this compromise package began to surface, they ran a poll asking readers "Deal or No Deal?" 74 percent of respondents said, "Don't make the deal - let all tax cuts expire."
The comments in the subsequent post after Obama's announcement were also quite telling.
As for the New York Times, Paul Krugman on Monday agreed with the Kossacks' sentiments in his column "Let's Not Make a Deal."
And finally, MoveOn.org has prominently displayed at its website a fundraiser to stop the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
Maybe Charles has a point.
Read more: newsbusters.org |
