President Responds to Criticism of Tax Deal
December 7, 2010
by Diane W. Collins
dcollins@marketingweb.com
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President Obama Tax Deal, Best Deal... at the moment |
President Obama said his first job is to "take care of the American people," not to conduct unproductive political battles. He went on to state the conversation regarding tax cuts is "not an abstract debate... this is real money for real people... it will make a difference in job growth."
The President said the tax extension for upper brackets was the bargaining chip necessary to preserve the additional tax credits for small business and the middle class that he fought for last year, and won. "It appears to be the Republican's Holy Grail," the President said in reference to the upper bracket extension. He admonished the Democrats commenting, "Some want a protracted political fight. I'm sympathetic to that... We can't afford the upper bracket extensions." In the meantime, Obama remarked he was not here to play games with American people or the economy. The President sees this as the best deal at the moment.
Republicans should be careful, however, This will be a 2012 issue. The extension is under the Federal PAYGO 2010 law which is executed by the Executive branch. President Obama made reference to this stating over the next two years the $700B spent on "giving" the upper brackets an extension will be "gone through line by line." The President intimated that if the Republicans were not able to reduce spending by the amount the temporary extension added to the deficit, the 2010 Federal PAYGO rule would apply. It gives the President the authority to eliminate spending from the budget in the amount of overage. Study your PAYGO rules, guys! There are two laws. One is the self-imposed rule of the House and Senate. The other is Federal law enacted in 2010 and executed by the Executive branch. We discussed this on the Weekly Wrap on Sunday.
President Obama says he is "...happy to be tested by the Republicans" over the next two years. Yes, because on this one he holds the cards. If Republicans fail to reduce spending by the amount of the temporary extension, that failure will be used by the Democrats in the 2012 campaign. Count on it.
Contact: Representatives, Contact: Senators
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