Boehner to propose Plan B to House Republicans
Source: USA Today
WASHINGTON — With the "fiscal cliff" looming, House Speaker John Boehner will tell fellow GOP lawmakers Tuesday that he wants to move forward with a bill that will raise tax rates for Americans making more the $1 million
Plan B does not mean that Boehner has given up on negotiations with the White House, but the speaker believes that the threat of current tax rates expiring rising for all Americans is too great not to have a backup plan, according to a congressional source who was not authorized to speak on the issue.
"For weeks, Senate Republicans — and a growing number of you — have been pushing for us to pivot to a 'Plan B,'" Boehner will tell House Republicans, according to excerpts of his remarks. "I think there's a better way. But the White House just can't seem to bring itself to agree to a 'balanced' approach, and time is running short. Taxes are going up on everyone on Jan. 1. They're baked into current law. And we have to stop whatever tax rate increases we can. In the absence of an alternative, as of this morning, a 'modified Plan B' is the plan."
Boehner and Obama met on Monday. After the meeting, persons familiar with the talks told the Associated Press that the president was now seeking higher tax rates beginning at incomes over $400,000 for couples, moving from his stance on the campaign trail to let the George W. Bush-era tax rates expire on those making more than $250,000.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/12/18/boehner-fiscal-cliff-planb-house-republicans/1777205/
I know that some folks are screaming about the concessions that President Obama offered, which even the corporate media describes as "substantial." Yet, here you have Boehner already planning to walk away from these concessions, take far less in spending cuts, including the cuts they asked for in entitlement programs AND seeking to send a bill to the Senate in the hopes that Harry Reid will undercut the President!
Why? Because Boehner is a weak speaker and more and more people know it. Boehner really has two problems: (1) many House Republicans will vote against any deal with the President because they hate Democrats and believe the President was born in Kenya, and (2) the House Republicans can't resist the opportunity to undercut their own leaders in the effort to move up the rungs of power in the house (see Tom Price).
The problem is that this "negotiation" was always destined to fail, because Boehner is the weakest Speaker in history. This is why Boehner is now proposing to send a bill to the Senate that is DOA. Because now that Boehner just learned that he can't get his members to back him on anything, he has no choice but to grand stand as a Tea Partier in chief.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Not this one.
Never mind.
