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On payroll tax cut, Obama digs in
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| Contributor | Brandonius Maximus |
| Last Edited | Brandonius Maximus Dec 20, 2011 05:03pm |
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| Category | General |
| Author | CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN and GLENN THRUSH |
| News Date | Tuesday, December 20, 2011 11:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | President Barack Obama has stood at these political crossroads before: Stand up to House Republicans — or cave under pressure rather than risk an unwanted outcome.
That scenario played out during the ugly debt-ceiling negotiations and budget shutdown earlier this year, but there are clear signs that Obama and his Democratic allies are preparing a tougher tack when it comes to House Speaker John Boehner’s 11th-hour decision to scuttle a bipartisan Senate deal to extend a popular payroll tax holiday for another two months.
Obama signaled on Tuesday he was in no mood to negotiate with House Republicans, calling on them instead to approve the compromise Senate bill “and give the American people the assurance they need in this holiday season.”
“Let’s be clear the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on January first — the only one,” Obama said at the White House after the House had voted to reject the Senate bill.
The reason for the hardened tack this time, Democrats say, is that Republicans have split down the middle on the extension, thanks to a broadly bipartisan deal blessed last weekend by Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and nearly every member of the Senate. And that has given Democrats rare leverage in their year-long battle to break the House GOP legislative roadblock. |
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