Boehner to GOP: Prepare for 'Plan B' on Fiscal Cliff

[FlaGator]

So they are going to pass the tax portion of the spending bill with out the spending cuts. Great going conservative leadship! You just threw away your bargaining position. I knew Boehner was going to cave. The man proves he doesn't have the guts to stand up to the libs. I have no issue with raising the tax rates on those making over 1 million a year. I do have issues with doing this and not getting guaranteed spending cuts.

House Speaker John Boehner told rank-and-file Republicans that they should consider a “Plan B” on how to avert automatic tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.

House leadership sources say the option would be for the chamber to pass a plan letting top tax rates increase on income over $1 million only.

The House would then send that bill, along with a House-passed bill extending the current tax rates enacted under former President George W. Bush for everyone, and leave it up to the Senate to decide.

“For weeks, Senate Republicans--and a growing number of you--have been pushing for us to pivot to a 'Plan B.' I think there's a better way,” Boehner told GOP members at a meeting on Tuesday, according to his office.

But Boehner added: “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.”

The story is here

[m00]

I will just say, no surprises here. There is a real issue at the heart of this -- that people at the very top pay about 15% or less in taxes and get a lot of sweet deals, while people in the middle class can pay over twice that. And we need to rewrite the tax code.

This isn't about "raising on group X" or "lowering on group Y." It's about making a fair, sensible system where you don't need specialized software (or to hire a guy) to figure out how much you "owe" the government every year.

We need stop having loopholes, and special deductions, and tax-writeoffs. Cap gains need to be taxed the same as wage income. It's a mess. Congress needs to fix it. Not endlessly go back and forth about whether a 3 cents increase on line 452 section A paragraph 12 goes too far, or doesn't go too far enough.

[SaintLouieWoman]

we need to get a new Speaker.

[Odysseus]

The Democrats have already rejected it. This was actually a plan that Pelosi put forward last year. The main point is that it kept the Bush tax rates in place for everyone making less than a million, but raised it on the millionaires and billionaires that the Democrats claim are not paying their fair share. By putting it forward, Boehner called their bluff, but unfortunately, it's a Pyrrhic victory, because most people aren't paying attention. At this point, nothing Boehner does will make a difference, because the Democrats want to go over the cliff. What happens if we go over? They get tax hikes and massive defense cuts and the media will blame Republicans. What happens if we don't go over? They get tax hikes and no cuts to defense, and a stimulus. Either way, they win, but the fiscal cliff scenario is a bigger win for them. We had better brace ourselves for it, but the only way that we won't go over is if the house Republicans cave on creating automatic debt ceiling increases, which is the only thing on the table that Obama really wants and which is not part of the sequestration act.

Boehner is in the same position that Gingrich was in when he tried to negotiate with Clinton. Clinton knew that the media would promote his narrative in the event of a government shut down, and excoriate the Republicans, and he had nothing to lose by letting it happen. Obama has even more support in the mainstream media, and he gets what he wants either way. Nothing Boehner does is going to make a difference. The American people voted for this, whether they understood it or not, and now we're going to have to live with the consequences.

[txradioguy]

Could this somehow beyond hope be a ploy to expose the fact that despite what the Dems say...they really Do want to go over the cliff and raise taxes on everyone?

[Rockntractor]

The Democrats have already rejected it. This was actually a plan that Pelosi put forward last year. The main point is that it kept the Bush tax rates in place for everyone making less than a million, but raised it on the millionaires and billionaires that the Democrats claim are not paying their fair share. By putting it forward, Boehner called their bluff, but unfortunately, it's a Pyrrhic victory, because most people aren't paying attention. At this point, nothing Boehner does will make a difference, because the Democrats want to go over the cliff. What happens if we go over? They get tax hikes and massive defense cuts and the media will blame Republicans. What happens if we don't go over? They get tax hikes and no cuts to defense, and a stimulus. Either way, they win, but the fiscal cliff scenario is a bigger win for them. We had better brace ourselves for it, but the only way that we won't go over is if the house Republicans cave on creating automatic debt ceiling increases, which is the only thing on the table that Obama really wants and which is not part of the sequestration act.

Boehner is in the same position that Gingrich was in when he tried to negotiate with Clinton. Clinton knew that the media would promote his narrative in the event of a government shut down, and excoriate the Republicans, and he had nothing to lose by letting it happen. Obama has even more support in the mainstream media, and he gets what he wants either way. Nothing Boehner does is going to make a difference. The American people voted for this, whether they understood it or not, and now we're going to have to live with the consequences.

We cannot give him automatic debt ceiling increases, it would be suicidal. He has already far over reached the powers his office should have and giving him open ended credit will end this nation.

[Rockntractor]

Obama must have gotten a lot of pointers from Chavez, having the house give up any power over the purse strings is wrong and will soon eliminate whatever checks and balances are in the system. You cannot negotiate with a terrorist.

[Unreconstructed Reb]

we need to get a new Speaker.

We need a new government. This mess is broken. Unplugging Speaker A and plugging in Speaker B ain't gonna make a hill of beans difference in the direction the country is going, i.e. communism, unless the entire mess is completely overhauled by starting with the Constitution and going from there.

[Odysseus]

We cannot give him automatic debt ceiling increases, it would be suicidal. He has already far over reached the powers his office should have and giving him open ended credit will end this nation.

Which is why it won't happen. Boehner knows that the only leverage he will have over Obama for the next couple of years is to withhold debt ceiling increases (we'll be bumping up against the ceiling more often than a porn star in a bunk bed) each time we come up against it in exchange for spending cuts, reductions in the rate of spending, or at least tuna-helper in the congressional commissary two days per year. If Boehner gives up control of the debt ceiling, he will be out of the speakership faster than you can say "Third Party".

[Janice]

... having the house give up any power over the purse strings is wrong and will soon eliminate whatever checks and balances are in the system. You cannot negotiate with a terrorist.

True, but you can always negotiate with the GOP (unless your a conservative).