NOT MUCH OF A ‘COMPROMISE’…. Our discourse can be awfully frustrating sometimes.
House GOP Leader John Boehner offered a concession on tax cuts, suggesting Republicans would accept a two-year extension of all the Bush-era tax breaks rather than the permanent extension they have been seeking.
The GOP proposal is an alternative to Democratic leaders’ plan to allow the top two rates to rise next year to pre-Bush levels.
Boehner’s Senate counterpart is offering a similar pitch.
Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky) office expressed openness on Wednesday to a compromise proposal on the Bush tax cuts, saying that the Minority Leader would entertain a temporary extension of all tax cuts even though a longer extension remains his preference.
A spokesman for the Kentucky Republican told the Huffington Post that the senator would consider punting the issue of what to do with the Bush tax cuts down the road by supporting a two-year extension of the current rates.
“If what it takes to prevent a tax hike is to start with two years, if that’s what it takes to talk Democrats out of raising taxes, that would be a good start,” said Don Stewart, McConnell’s communications director. “But we’re not for raising taxes in two years.”
So, let’s be clear about what kind of “compromise” is on the table. Going into the dispute, Republicans want to keep all the Bush-era tax rates for everyone; President Obama wants to keep the lower rates for the middle class, but allow the lower rates for the wealthiest Americans to expire on time.
As part of the proposed “deal” GOP leaders are willing to make, Republicans would get everything they want for two years — while adding billions to the deficit that the GOP no longer even pretends to care about — at which point, they would demand the exact same thing all over again.
Describing this as some kind of “concession” is truly ridiculous.
