The already heated fight over the so-called Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this year, ratcheted up another notch on Monday. The White House and a host of influential Congress members staked out competing positions on the issue that is likely to dominate the debate over the economy from now until the November midterm elections.
The standoff amounts to a game of political chicken, but it also raises questions about what is best for pulling the country out of the recession, chipping away at unemployment and paying down the deficit.In comments at a backyard town hall in a Northern Virginia suburb, President Obama delivered another pointed defense of his plan to extend the cuts for middle class and working families, while letting others — specifically the cuts for high-income earners — come to an end.
“We could get [tax cuts] done this week, but we’re still in this wrestling match with John Boehner and Mitch McConnell about the last 2 to 3 percent” of upper-income taxpayers, Obama said.Up on Capitol Hill, a spokesman for McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, said that every Senate Republican has pledged to oppose Obama’s plan.
“Only in Washington could someone propose a tax hike as an antidote to a recession,” McConnell, R-Ky., said.
Neither man, however, has the full support of his party, as politicians on both sides of the aisle worry about how the issue will play out with recession-weary voters.
A guide to the fight over the ‘Bush tax cuts’ – Yahoo! News