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Obama, GOP to discuss tax cuts
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo
From left, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., House Speaker-designate John Boehner of Ohio, and House Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor of Va., take part in a news conference, on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010, following their meeting at the White House with President Obama.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
Heralding a new era of divided government, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans pledged warily to seek common ground on tax cuts and reduced spending Tuesday in their first meeting since tumultuous midterm elections.
Obama also made a strong plea to Senate Republicans to permit ratification of a new arms- control treaty with Russia by year’s end, raising the issue first in a session in the White House’s Roosevelt Room and then in a follow-up meeting without aides present, officials said.
No substantive agreements on essential year-end legislation emerged from the session, and none had been expected. Instead, the meeting was a classic capital blend of substance and style, offering a chance for Obama, House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell to become more comfortable in one another’s presence despite their obvious policy differences and history of mutual distrust.
“The American people did not vote for gridlock. They didn’t vote for unyielding partisanship. They’re demanding cooperation and they’re demanding progress,” the president told reporters, referring to elections that gave the GOP control of the House and a stronger say in the Senate.
Back at the Capitol after the meeting, Boehner said, “I think that spending more time will help us find some common ground,” and he credited Obama with opening the session by saying he had not reached out enough in the past to Republican leaders.
Even so, there was little or no attempt to minimize the differences that divided the parties during the election campaign, including a disagreement on legislation to extend Bush-era tax cuts due to expire at year’s end.
“It is the view of 100 percent of Senate Republicans, and a number of Senate Democrats as well ... that we ought to treat all taxpayers the same,” McConnell told reporters.
Obama and most Democrats, by contrast, want to extend tax cuts to all workers with family incomes under $250,000 but allow them to expire for those at higher levels.
In a sign of urgency, Obama and leaders of both parties appointed a small group to begin talks immediately on resolving the issue so lawmakers can approve a compromise before wrapping up their work.
One possible compromise is for Democrats to agree to extend the tax cuts for all and for Republicans to drop their insistence that the lower tax rates be made permanent.
An extension for a few years would allow both sides to claim victory while limiting the cost to the government at a time when deficit reduction is a major priority of both parties.