So the first post-election meeting between President Obama and congressional leaders from both parties has come and gone and everything is pretty much as it was beforehand. In a statement after the meeting, President Obama characterized it as the beginning of an ongoing dialogue and expressed his hope to be able to work to be able to work with both Democrats and Republicans to find a resolution on issues like tax cuts and the START treaty.
Of note: Obama said he had tapped OMB chief Jack Lew and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to work on tax cuts. Obama again repeated that his goal was to extend middle-class tax cuts and said he opposed extending tax cuts on income over $250,000 because it would add $700 billion to the national debt.
Meanwhile, Republicans continue to howl in protest over the prospect of limiting tax cuts to the first $250,000 of income. Mitch McConnell and John Boehner wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post announcing their opposition to such a policy and Eric Cantor said it was a nonstarter on Bloomberg TV. In addition, House Republicans are making it clear that they really, really, really don't want to be forced to take a vote on the Democratic tax cut plan:
House Republicans said they were disturbed that Democrats might try to pass a portion of the Bush tax cuts under a House procedure that requires a two-thirds vote for passage – a move that would likely set up the tax vote for failure.
Speaking after a Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning in the Capitol, Republicans said they would not be content with anything other than an extension of all tax cuts for all income brackets.
It's worth a reminder that when Republicans vote against this tax cut, they'll be voting against a tax cut that goes to every single taxpayer. The only difference between their proposal and the Democratic plan is that Republicans want to tack on an extra tax cut on income over $250,000 -- a tax cut that would go exclusively to the wealthiest Americans and would add $700 billion to our national debt.
No wonder Republicans don't want to have to vote on that. The only question is whether Democrats realize just how strong their negotiation position is.