President Obama, earlier today in Winston-Salem, NC, on tax cuts:
Our challenge now is to do whatever it takes to accelerate job creation and economic growth. Now, in the short-term, that means prevent the middle-class tax increase that's currently scheduled for January 1.
Right now, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are working through some differences to try to get this done. And there's some, there's some serious debates that are still taking place. Republicans want to make permanent the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, I have argued that we can't afford it right now. But what I've also said is we've got to find consensus here, because a middle-class tax hike would be very tough, not only on working families, but it would also be a drag on our economy at this moment. So I believe we should keep in place tax cuts for workers and small business that are set to expire.
We've got to make sure that we're coming up with a solution, even if it's not 100% of what I want or what the Republicans want. There's no reason that ordinary Americans should see their taxes go up next year.
We should also extend unemployment insurance for workers who've lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
Notice that President Obama didn't once mention the fact that a majority of both the House and Senate had voted for a permanent extension of middle-class tax cuts? Instead, he merely said that both sides were "working through some differences." I guess he must be worried that Republicans might obstruct middle-class tax cuts if he dares to point out that Republicans just obstructed middle-class tax cuts.
To be fair, President Obama did point out that that Republicans want to permanently extend tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, and he did point out that he thinks we can't afford to do that. Unfortunately, in the same breath he also said we need to compromise -- and that means extending tax cuts for the rich on a temporary basis. Obama would like to us to believe that a temporary extension would represent a compromise by the GOP, but that's a load of bunk. As long as we continue Bush tax policy, the GOP is getting 100 percent of what it wants.
Don't forget, the whole reason that we're having this debate now is that the tax cuts were "temporary" to begin with -- and if we can't end them now, there's no reason to believe we'll ever be able to do it in the future. So in this case, as long as middle-class tax cuts and upper-income tax cuts are set to expire at the same time, temporary really means indefinite. And that means Democrats are being asked to support a tax plan that will add $700 billion to the national debt over the next decade. And as long as that's what's on the table, their answer should be no.