Boehner Warns GOP Not To Make Holiday Plans As ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Talks Stall

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Boehner Warns GOP Not To Make Holiday Plans As ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Talks Stall

December 12th, 2012 3:28 pm Henry Decker

House Speaker John Boehner is warning congressional Republicans not to make any plans for the holidays, as negotiations to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” appear to be at an impasse with just 19 days to go until the deadline.

“There were some offers that were exchanged back and forth yesterday and the president and I had pretty frank conversations about just how far apart we are,” Boehner said in a press conference Wednesday. Just before, he told his caucus at a closed-door meeting that they will likely be in Washington negotiating a budget deal through Christmas.

House Minority Leader Eric Cantor echoed the speaker, saying “We’re going to stay here until Christmas Eve and even the time between and before the New Year.”

“I think it’s getting worse, not better,” Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy added.

Despite reports earlier this week that Obama and Boehner were slowly progressing towards a deal to avoid the “cliff,” new reports suggest that the two sides are still very far apart. As CNN’s Dana Bash first reported, during a Tuesday night phone conversation with the president, Boehner proposed a permanent extension of the Bush-era tax cuts on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.

The demand is a non-starter for President Obama, who has repeatedly warned that he will not accept any deal that does not raise tax rates on incomes over $250,000. He has the leverage to follow through on that threat; after all, if Boehner refuses to compromise on tax rates and no deal is reached, then all of the Bush-era tax rates will expire on January 1st.

Obama is still publicly projecting optimism that Boehner will relent; as he told ABC News on Tuesday night, “I’m pretty confident that Republicans would not hold middle-class taxes hostage to trying to protect tax cuts for high-income individuals…I don’t think they’ll do that.”

For their part, congressional Democrats seem prepared to go over the cliff rather than make a bad deal. As Greg Sargent reports in The Plum Line, Senate Democrats are flatly rejecting the notion of raising the Medicare eligibility age as part of a deal. Although President Obama suggested that he could be open to the idea, Oregon senator Jeff Merkley told Sargent that raising the eligibility age from 65 to 67 — which would provide negligible savings, but come with a massive human cost — is “absolutely unacceptable.”

“If this is a trial balloon,” Merkley said of Obama’s ABC interview, “it’s a lead balloon.”

Photo credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Tags: Barack Obama, Bush Tax Cuts, Christmas, fiscal cliff, GOP, john boehner, tax cuts

http://mohammeddressup.com/ I Zheet M’Drawz

Let US just drop Social Security & Medicare.

If people can’t take care of their own needs let them die!

(Brought to you by the GOP Greedy Oil Party & the Party of NO!)

grandbaby1

I have taken care of myself and followed what was right and the law for 62yrs and now the govt. needs to honor promises made to me all these years

Annemb

Agreed!

Blessings…
suederooster

Right on but you know the dirty word is “entitlement”. Well the government took Soc.Sec. out of my check, whether I liked it or not. So..damn right…I am “entitled” to a return on my money. It’s just that plain and simple !!

http://profile.yahoo.com/BMRM52UYNZXK4ATA4GW5INH6IU frogger

Amen, Suederooster – for 50 years, the government never asked me if they could take the money out of my check, and they seemed to think they were ‘entitled’ to take it whether I wanted them to or not. I agree, I am ‘entitled’ to a return on my ‘investment’. Just as the Koch and the bunch get their ‘big bucks’, I want my ‘little bucks’ because I put plenty into their system! As a side note, why do they keep talking about raising the age from 65 to 67? It was raised to 66 long ago and I wasn’t elegible until I was 66, although I kept working and waited 3 more years. Just wondering.
http://profile.yahoo.com/WXAQEVOSVCMLVOA66YIGQ7LGGA manfred

Right, you paid into the Social Security Fund and it will not make any difference how much they play with it, it will not change the budget what-so-ever. They just can’t borrow as much from it when it gets depleted eventually, unless they tackle it. In any case, it will not pay down the debt!

http://profile.yahoo.com/RGOUPZ3JYNMPBVOHLZRCRVRD6Q ivory69690

and making the greedy bastards pay their fair share of a %
Eddie50

I like your comment but needs a few changes. There were no promises made, our government made a contract with Americans. We would pay our social security taxes & medicaid taxes our hole life & in turn when we reire it would be there for me & you. They are not giving us anything that we hadn’t worked & payed for our hole lives.
http://profile.yahoo.com/BEKQKDHQCDR7CNBD46XHTJWT4Q James

I hope you got a stash of silver or gold because you have been duped for 62 yrs.I bought silver as soon as Obama got elected.

grandbaby1

If you are buying silver then you are the one duped. Have you seen how much it has dropped.

hirail

yes, this is exatly how you greedy republican bastard’s feel, all about me and the hell with the rest of us.
http://profile.yahoo.com/RGOUPZ3JYNMPBVOHLZRCRVRD6Q ivory69690

but if all the ppl. just die then who will the greedy bastards make their money off of ? one knows thy wont want to have to work them selfs
gahoof

The “GOP Greedy Oil Party & the Party of NO!” might have realized that this was a good way to reduce the excess population.
http://profile.yahoo.com/BEKQKDHQCDR7CNBD46XHTJWT4Q James

Hey Bozo, try feeding 300 million people whithout OIL.

WhutHeSaid

The only thing more important to Republicans than the Koch Brothers is their own hide. They’ll make a deal when the heat gets turned up high enough. Personally, I’d enjoy seeing an all-Democrat Congress in 2014, so I kind of wish they would keep stamping their feet about protecting the wealthy from paying their share. The battle is already lost — they just refuse to admit it yet.

sigrid28

I’d agree with your assessment of Republican priorities, but nothing they do can hurt or help the Koch brothers, who are insulated by their wealth no matter what happens. How can Republicans not know this, even impoverished ones like DeMint?

It’s incomprehensible why Republican representatives do not realize that going over the Fiscal Cliff on behalf of the top 2% lessens their chances of re-election. Even low-information Republican voters will feel the impact of higher taxes, the loss of the pay roll stimulus, and the effects of reductions to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security not to mention the loss of short-term fixes like Food Stamps and Unemployment Compensation. The Red States, and lower middle-class and poor whites within them, have a greater dependency on government benefits than the Blue States.

If the president and his administration negotiate with these survival-challenged Republicans, the Democratic party risks losing the stabilizing influence our nation requires of it now and for the next two years. President Obama negotiated in 2010, which only emboldened extremists in the House and Senate. It looks like it will be impossible to reason or negotiate with the short-sighted obstructionists in Congress and their belligerent instigators on the airwaves, who will have to be shown up for what they are. Unfortunately, all Americans will once again be punished, but that may be inevitable if the Republican party insists on self-destructing. And you are right about something else; this could go on until the 2014 election.

http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila

Sigrid, I couldn’t agree with you more. I also find the insistence of poor Republicans to help the rich get richer baffling. The purported positive effects of trickle down economics were exposed in the 1980s and again during W’s tenure. Irresponsible tax breaks to people that don’t need them did not encourage investment or job creation, in fact, it produced the opposite. The only investment we saw when that myopic approach was embraced was overseas.
Deregulation also had a devastating effect in the 1980s when the Savings and Loan sector was brought to its knees because of it and, again, a decade ago when that irresponsible practice caused our financial institutions and sectors of our economy to come to the verge of collapse.
Republicans must realize that there are no simple solutions to the fiscal and economic problems we are still facing, that hiding the cost of wars and irresponsible tax breaks is panacea that only satisfies the naive, that we must pay for the things we need and benefit from, and that we must invest to move forward.
With the exception of out of control investment on Defense, fueled by a paranoia that is likely to destroy us as a society, we have neglected our infrastructure, have not invested enough in modernization and, worst of all, we have not made education the priority it must have for us to be able to compete in the 21st century.
Western Europe, China, India and Brazil are likely to overtake us as the dominant global economies within the next 20 to 30 years. There are many reasons for that, but one that stands high among them is as unacceptable high school dropout rate, and the tendency of many of our young to major in liberal arts at a time when the demand for jobs and the future of our industry requires workers with hard science skills. That, incidentally, is a contributing factor for outsourcing. The only reason outsourcing, driven by lack of a skilled workforce in the USA, has not reached crisis proportions is because of the large number of H1b visas that are being issues. Unfortunately, as the standard of living in developing countries countries to improve, the number of qualified immigrants willing to come to the USA is bound to decline to the point that many of our companies, especially those in the high tech sector and cutting edge technologies, will have no choice but to move their facilities overseas to be able to function.
History tells us that reliance on military might is short lived. We either prepare ourselves for the challenges we are already facing, or our global hegemony and our standard of living will slowly but surely start to decline in the not too distant future.

gahoof

Dominick, you have many good points, here but I have a question for you: How can we encourage students to develop their skills in hard science, when many in the Republican Party seem to denigrate the value of science?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B6RROC4IUESHT322QS5VJVPYRM Lynda

There seems to be a movement to call them out (the GOP) when they make stupid anti-science comments. We must encourage such payback whenever we see it and have the backs of those standing up to ignorance as a way of life. It won’t be easy standing up to the conservative entertainment machine, but it must be done.

http://www.facebook.com/fern.woodfork Fern Woodfork

I Hope This Do Nothing Congress Got Their Resume Updated Cause The American People Should Be Tried Of Them By Now, It Time To Get These Thugs Out Of Office!!! Enough Is Enough!!! 2014 Can’t Come Soon Enough!!!
flyfshr1cd

You got it right. The Repugnants won’t budge on more taxes for the ruling elite, because the ruling elite owns them. Americans will long remember WHY we will be forced off that fiscal cliff, and they will lose all in 2014 because of it.
http://profile.yahoo.com/BEKQKDHQCDR7CNBD46XHTJWT4Q James

You need to spend 1 month in The great Democratic Republic of Cuba. Everyone is equal with the exception of the leaders. 50 lbs of rice 5o lbs of beans and 27 dollars a month.Go for it because if the Dems take total control that’s what you can look forward to.

WhutHeSaid

I see that you Tea Baggers haven’t learned your lesson about lying yet. I guess you’ll just have to get spanked in a few more elections to get the picture.

http://www.facebook.com/dominick.vila.1 Dominick Vila

Quite frankly, there is no need to cancel Holiday plans. Rewriting the tax code will take months, and finding areas to cut spending without impacting the economy and adversely affecting SS and MEDICARE beneficiaries is going to take more than just two weeks.
What is going on right now is a game of chicken, both parties are waiting for the other party to blink or, even better, proposed something they can use in 2014 against their opponent.
Agree to the tax rate increase for billionaires, trial lawyers, Hollywood stars and Wall Street brokers, and promise to reduce spending during the next 9 months, before the start of FY13.

http://profile.yahoo.com/IQNV5NV2RS7A7XMJKYHLRBZZ5A Betta

“What is going on right now is a game of chicken”

I like to call it dickwaving.

I don’t understand where $250,000 is considered rich. That’s no money and it all ain’t free money. There’s mortgage, kids, car payments, utilities, food, college tuition and other necessities like everybody else has rich or poor. I call $10 Million “rich”. Certainly not a measly $250,000.00. For a family of 4 that’s barely comfortable.

Jmz Warren-Nesky

Twenty grand plus a month isn’t enough for you? Most blue collar will never see a third of that amount.. I may not consider two-hundred fifty grand wealthy but I do see where they should pay their fair share in taxes. EVERYBODY should be willing to pay their fair share in accordance to what their making if for nothing else but to prove their American citizens. You say a quarter mill a year is chicken feed? I say look around you and stop being so self centered and important. Hundreds of millions of workers with families are barely making 50 grand a year. What side of the tracks are you from?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5LCXMWHFPRMEYD4RWN56QE2FF4 Grunge45

It might be helpful to analyze just wahat these CEO’s and others are getting. $5 million per year (not counting airplane, pension, and stock perks) translates to almost $15,000 per DAY. Or if you like, over $100,000 per WEEK.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5LCXMWHFPRMEYD4RWN56QE2FF4 Grunge45

You forget how the tax works. They get taxed more on the amount OVER $250,000. So if they have little ($275,000) they get taxed very little extra. If in the multimillions, they pay more.
http://profile.yahoo.com/ZIAVD6YO6OK45OUABSPVN74DM4 FRED

I was able to manage on $40,000. My daughter considers herself comfortable on $150,000. $250,000 is more than a little bit comfortable.
http://profile.yahoo.com/RAXDC6EQQBAUL7YKSSLRDYTYSM RAYMOND H

no one rich or poor will see a tax increase for the first $250,000 that they earn. anything over that will be taxed at the higher rate.
highpckts

you are joking, right??? I would love to have $250,000 a year!! Poor thing!

Progressive Patriot

I have sympathy for congress members families, but it’s more difficult to feel sorry for the Pols themselves. They have forced themselves into intractable positions, and have not demonstrated the courage to work together for the good of the country. Hope that it is becoming more clear to We The People that we must get Big Money out of politics, so that the monied special interests cannot continue to buy and corrupt our democracy.

http://twitter.com/LostAnarchist S-3

Feel sorry for none of them – they are living off our tax dollars. OUR MONEY. They all need to give it back – not just the men, but the women & children, too.

Violent revolt and anarchy in the US – let us slaughter these “conservatives” and corporatist scum like the animal they are and like they poison us with!!

oldtack

S-3

Before you let your mouth overload your brain – may i remind you that “Big Brother” peruses these forums just like you and I. I know where you are coming from but “Big Brother” thinks only in black and white. They look upon words like kill and slaughter in the very real sense of the word.
Have a good day.

bcarreiro

BOEHNER JUST LIKES TO PLAY GAMES WITH THE PRESIDENT AND THE PEOPLE. IF IT WERENT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS THE REPUBLICANS WOULDN’T HAVE A SALARY AND THE ONLY THING THATS BEEN IMPLEMENTED BY THIS PARTY IN THE LAST 4 YRS IS UNDERMINING THE PRESIDENT, WASTFUL SPENDING AND FRAUDENLANT BEHAVIOR. LETS ABOLISH THESE FOOLS FROM OFFICE AND THEY CAN START TO WORK FROM THE BOTTOM LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Myers/100001512942781 Jim Myers

The real irony about this is that Grover Norquist is the single biggest reason that the top 2% may have to face the tax rates that were in place during the Clinton era.

Lord, don’t you just love politics?

LOL

http://twitter.com/LostAnarchist S-3

And all at once too, thank Christ.

EAT THE RICH!
RobertCHastings

It is generally a case of what goes around comes around. It’s like the AIDS epidemic that began in the early 80′s,thanks to Reagan’s beliefthat it was a curse from God imposed only on gays. Then, suddenly, he started loosing some of his big donors due to tainted blood supplies. If you don’t listen when something hits you, it comes back to hit you harder. The Congressional debacle last year that resulted in this “fiscal cliff” nonsense could have and should have been dealt with back then. Over the past year or so, the president has been making budget cuts of his own, like getting us out of Iraq, and reducing expenses to Medicare over the next ten years of over $700B, those two items alone accounting for more than half of what the Republicans are demanding. They LOST THE ELECTION, get over it, and get about doing what you were elected to do, not what Grover Norquist is telling you to do!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5LCXMWHFPRMEYD4RWN56QE2FF4 Grunge45

That $700B reduction, is to reduce the welfare subsidy to the “health” industry. Right now the “private” companies are getting money they would never get without a generous government. As a single payer in Medicare, the gov analyzes claims and makes payments. THEN, these capitalists, pay only if Medicare paid, and maybe, not at all. So they get their work done for them, they spend money for advertising how good they are, they pay executives big fat salaries, and then they complain about big government. Hypocrisy beyond belief.

Germansmith

The top 2% of earners will pay the additional taxes and laugh about them (they have armies of CPA and advisers to help them mitigate the increase)

Do you???

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000344109546 Gloria Lee

Sorry about your Christmas Plans but we stand with President Obama and if we have to go over the cliff so to speak then jump because it can all be taken care of next year with new people that I think will work better with our President. We do not need the greedy rich to run our country when that is not what the vote meant even though they tried to keep us from voting we won not them so be it. Have a great day not doing anything , we will win in the end
vapiet

Perhaps a little compromise by the Administration, already suggested I think by someone in the Simpson group, that the cut-off be $500,000. This would allow a bit more lee-way for small businesses, although I do not understand why salaries of the owner(s) should not/could not be separated from the general business income. Also, living costs differ very widely even within regions. I could not afford my simple but very comfortable standard of living that I have in rural VA if I lived in Washington, DC, and certainly not in my native Brooklyn. Just the property and other taxes in NYC would leave me little else to subsist on. One more point: if the ages for SS and Medicare are raised, how will people survive between the time they must retire, are forced involuntarily by their employers to quit? Try getting a job in your 50′s unless you have unusual skills- in which case you could probably work until you dropped. In Europe the retirement age is linked with funded retirement or the state retirement systems.

concernedgran

I am a Democrat and I think you have a good point here. $250,000 sounds like a lot of money to someone who has no job or to a senior citizen who is struggling to make ends meet, but to a family of four or more when you think about the cost of living it is not a fortune. I think the $500,000 cap sounds like a reasonable compromise. I do not want to see Social Security and Medicare touched. When seniors are referred to “takers”, people need to stop and realize that most seniors who are now on Social Security and Medicare (my generation) worked hard to raise their families without assistance from anyone and had a percentage involuntarily deducted from their paychecks for 40+ years for Social Security and Medicare . That is all many seniors have to live on and trust me once they pay for their Part B and Part D Medicare and any supplement that they need to have in order to cover what Medicare does not pay, they have very little left to live an extravagant lifestyle. I am a 65 year old senior with a disabled husband and I lost my job two years ago due to downsizing in my company. I could not find full time employment, so I work a part time job just to make ends meet, do not ask anyone for assistance and there are many more out there with a similiar story.
So while I agree that $250,000 is too low a cap, I do not agree that the answer is to break the backs of the poor and senior citizens. There has to be a better answer.

Jmz Warren-Nesky

A very vast majority of workers have never seen a quarter million dollar yearly salary so yes, that is an extravagant amount to the common worker and is only reserved for professional college educated paper pushers or upper middle class living beyond their means but I do agree that a half million would be more reasonable as a cap, not because 25,000.00 a year is chicken feed for even a family of four but because most of these workers are simple people like the middle class majority. Another poster suggested a cap of 10 million dollars.. only part of the 5% would suggest such an outrageous number.. A half million I would vote for and back up.. It is in fact reasonable.

http://profile.yahoo.com/HFYZP2APYPP7H6PWS2ZDQRWFEQ Hillbilly

If you make $250,000 a year and can’t live on that amount no matter where you live or how large your family is that is your fault not the fault of the people that only make $35,000 or less a year and live on that . The higher tax rate should begin at $250,00 and above not at 1/2 million, if it starts at 1/2 million then those people are going to be crying that they can’t live on that amount make the higher tax rate start at a million. $250,000 is a fair place for the higher tax rates.

u_go_guys

ok by me. I trust the prez. He is the best we’ve got.

grandbaby1

the election told them that but they refuse to read the tea leaves and would rather listen to poor sooth sayers like norquist and rove and morris who were all wrong. besides the only reason boehner won his reelection is because he ran unopposed.

http://profile.yahoo.com/HSP3VR5V6LX23G5SUPRJQPSYPA VIPER

OK all you Repuks….time for afternoon math class….lets begin.

Let’s assume that the top tax bracket for singles/couples making 1 million dollars or more a year is 35%…….
Let’s also assume that the tax bracket for singles/couples making 100K or less a year is 15%….

1,000,000 – 35% = 650,000
100,000 – 15% = 85,000

Now, we all know that the sigles/couples making 1 million go out and hire a 100K tax lawyer to find ever loop hole in our screwed up tax code, and brings that 35% down to 5%.

So, 1,000,000 – 5% = 950,000 – 100,000 (tax lawyer fee) = 850,000
100,000 – 15% = 85,000 – 0 (can’t affard tax lawyer) = 85,000

Now, who gets phulck’d the most here…….the middle class.
Lesson over…move on Repukes.
http://profile.yahoo.com/WZG5Z5FXVXAA5PRY2USFW3Q76Y Witnes This!

Has anyone in the GOP put the pieces together yet? Did they think the people voted for O’bama because he is a nice guy? Get real congress! The tax break was given to the rich by the Bush administration and my understanding is that it was not forever. Reminds me of Richard Gere in Chicago trying to tap dance his way out of guilty!
http://www.facebook.com/michael.mahan.581 Michael Mahan

Resetting the outrageously, just about criminal, no! CRIMINAL tax cuts, pushed thru by Bush and Republicans a decade ago are going to expire at the first of the year, good!. Unfortunately, the tax cuts are the only things expiring and not the Republicans responsible for this treasonous act. A lot of people suffered because of these cuts, but no one in the top 2%, basically, the whole country got the shaft and 2 wars. There must be an expiration date for these Republicans.
greghilbert

Whether in 2012 or 2013, it will become clear to informed and independent-thinking progressives that the 99% will at best obtain from Obama Dems only a modest slow-down in the rate of transfer of wealth to the top 1%, most especially to the top 0.1%. Repealing the Bush cuts granted the 2% preserves the bulk of the huge tax cuts for the wealthy ushered in with Regan in the eighties. Nowhere is that fact being publicized, so complete is the Repub/Dem/CorporateMedia suppression of the truths that matter.
adriancrutch

The taxpayers are about to get stuck paying for the theft of Hostess employee pension funds by the (management) which had accumulated by two consecutive pay cuts by the employees. All part of the grand plan by the guys who (think) the U.S. is still a Superpower. Hasn’t been since 1970. Charlie Rose didn’t look happy this morning when the excuse for a congressman treated him like a hillbilly farmer without internet. The day of reckoning will not be pretty.
http://www.facebook.com/fay.bowen Fay Bowen

This must be the “War on Christmas,” Fox News is screaming about.
http://www.facebook.com/fay.bowen Fay Bowen

This must be the “War on Christmas” Fox News keeps screaming about!
Annemb

Well, it’s about time that the Republicans begin acting like adults instead of kids in a sandbox. They are too immature to be legislators and need to either grow up or resign their positions.

Until then, they remain pseudo-representatives!
Jmz Warren-Nesky

C’mon! Let’s just go over that cliff.. It’s a farce that politicians are dangling over our heads but really only affects the Boner and his butt sniffing cronies.. Put the blame where it’s been for the last four years, get rid of the virus that’s infecting progress and bring out Reps and Dems who will be willing to compromise and if they refuse, toss their worthless asses off the cliff as well. It’s getting to be a bore when those we voted in to help us and the country are only helping themselves and their interests.. It’s time to lay down the law to them and threaten them with their continued livelihood.. Make it an, “Anybody but a slacker!!”.. They thought they could pull such a phrase with Obama.. Well, we know we can pull it on them.. They should be afraid, very afraid.
http://www.facebook.com/clarence.swinney Clarence Swinney

Hedge Fund Manager Paulson made $3700 Million in 2007 and $5000 Million in 2010.
He had bet om Mortgage Defaults. AIG covered some of his large bets. They lost. We bailed them out
of gambling losses. His Tax Rate 15%. Union workers pay 28% Tax Rate.
Wall Street is involved in high speed gambling. The type that almost put us in a Great Depression.
When will Congress show courage and tax such gambling activities. UK has taxed them for decades with no ill effect. We need the revenue. Better to do that than cut entitlements. A few rich are involved versus 50 million. Will we ever learn?
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1425480465 Liz Feeser-Regan

So sick of these Republicans, get them out of office NOW!
http://profile.yahoo.com/DPY5ADXTDUGABOL7TPUJQEP5YE JOAQUIM

Make tax breaks to the rich permanent. The SOB is starting with an impossible demand to screw up any possible agreements. And what is the rationale for making such a demand? Let me see… If 8 years of it, under Bush did not do us any good, making it permanent will fix the problem. It is the other version of throw money at the problem.
sunniejam77

Mr. Speaker, you can continue to carry on like a spoiled brat. Know this, if we go over the cliff, guess who will get the blame??? YOU and YOUR party! Stop being the fly in the ointment, and start cooperating. You wouldn’t be so quick to want to cut medicare and social security if YOU and yours had to depend on it to live. Yet you continue to protect the rich. Get with the program or every single one of you will get voted OUT when you come up for reelection. Disgusted!!!

http://profile.yahoo.com/FLZQU3MUI232XFZWJGBFRFOYPM Bobby G

Sunniejam77.. All of those Gop’s in Washington is on the take for the Rich Folks. We have no other choice but to vote all of them out of office. We have to do less talking and more action…Im with you?

artdeleon

There was a simillar political stew brewing in france during the 16th & 17th centurys. a devise called the guillotine was invented & put in service. when the dust cleared, all the republicans were gone. unable to treat fairly, they lost their heads.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Jones/827014412 Daniel Jones

Screw the Re-extortionists.

Screw their deals.

Screw their lies.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4HKCTSVHCQJCJUU2VYCERLWWDE Richie T

There was surplus, Bush tax cuts, CRASHED the economy. They knew it would increase the deficit when they did it. It was supposed to be temporary and they know it now they want it permanent. At this point, if a Republican told me the sun was up. I’d go check.
Lowering taxes, didn’t help, doesn’t help, and will NEVER help the economy.
They “create jobs” Whoever believes that is an idiot. They build a factory, people start to work there. If nobody has money to spend, after having deciding what monthly bills they can afford to pay this month, can’t afford to buy whatever the product is, it shuts down. Everybody involved. EXCEPT the person that started the business, is out the door. Unemployment, IF they qualify. The person that started the business? They claim it as a write-off on their taxes.

Maybe, just maybe, if we stopped electing millionaires, and keep putting the same people that keep screwing us back in Congress, it would help. The President, max 8 years. Congress, life-time. At this point there are 15 members of Congress that have been in office at least 36 years.
John Dingell, currently the longest active member, over 57 years.
I’m 55, he was in office two years before I was born.
How can anyone in this country actually believe they have a clue what it’s like to try and survive in this disaster they’ve created.

grandbaby1

So true. That’s what I say. We all complain about them but they keep getting reelected. Ryan for example. His own district and state didn’t trust or vote for him for Vp but reelected him at the same time to Congress. Why?

http://www.facebook.com/stephen.cole.3557 Stephen Cole

it-to-little-to-late-a-worker-gets-one-percent-rise-do-you-think-they-give-up-2-percent-when-they-have-millons-and-billons-plus-the-stock-market-plus-one-dollar-makes-8-more-zero-out-all-in-greed-come-to-mind-we-all-are-going-down-the-drain-it-a-disaster-sad-part-we-pay-for-it-the-bills-are-due-all-in-nothing-back-for-America.!!!

vapiet

Sorry, but your utter lack of syntax destroys your message. I think I agree with you, maybe, but do you mean TOO when you wrote to? And IT for if? Do try spell check.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LLH7SFRBBDZ54YLFVP6POB6XAI ANNA

Are they dense? They’ve evaded their tax responsibility for 10 years now. Did it ‘create’ jobs? Did it do anything besides enrich their own wealth and cause the collapse of our entire economic system? They have a lot of nerve asking for a ‘permanent holiday’ from paying their fair share of taxes. These people are tax evaders and should be called out on their recalcitrance. Pay up or go to prison for tax evasion…..we’ll call it a ‘holiday’ alright, a holiday from their avarice.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000841658853 Robert Cruder

I work for a DOD contractor and am conscientious about my billing. If I am distracted from my task or if I am not doing the government’s work for any other reason, I do not bill that time and I work additional hours to compensate. If congressmen from either side of the aisle want to waste time, it should be their personal time that they are wasting.
markie G

over the cliff—
http://profile.yahoo.com/63C6DBGS7UAUJI3FFLLXPFEFWE Boomer

About time they spent some time on the job they get paid for. They are going to disrupt a lot of lives if they don’t come to terms with the President so it’s not unfair for their holidays to be disrupted.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1118543425 Robin O’Brien

You don’t do your job, you don’t get the holiday off!
Your employers (the middle-class tax payers) have had it with your shinanigans!
TheOldNorthChurch

So where is the “Cliff”? If all taxes are changed do to the Bush Rates expiring and this will only result in an additional $15 billion (From the 98%) vs $85 billion (From the 2%)how is that going to sink the economy? You mean that $15 billion will sink the economy. It looks like recession is a forgone conclusion no matter what happens.

Let’s get back to the Clinton Tax Rates, allow sequestration and then start reducing expenses to the Clinton Expense ratio to GDP.

Justin Napolitano

Church, the problems is the cuts that also must be enacted. These cuts to Federal spending add up to 300 billion per year. This will cause another recession, count on it.

TheOldNorthChurch

Justin – if you take away the deficient spending for the past 4 fiscal years there was no economic growth at all. The 2011 GDP was actually 99.8% of 2007. So what we did is borrow our growth and now it is time to pay it back. If we don’t get this over with it will just keep getting worse.

ExPAVIC

The Correct Thing To Do

Tell Congressman Boehner to go fornicate himself. The recent re-election gave Obama the mandate he needed when the vox populi demonstrated that rich old white guys don’t run this country anymore.

Congressman “Boner” Boehner is only prolonging the slow death march of the old, old, used up and dying GOP Party. The real question is, will Congressman Boehner lie in the GOP casket as people pass by and spit on him.
Germansmith

I say let us go over the fiscal cliff.
Let EVERYBODY pay higher taxes. Let us cut ALL federal programs and be done with it. Defense, Medicare, Medicaid and Unemployment expansion could all use trimming.

I do not think Democrats and Republican will never agree to ANY sort of compromise, I just hope they do not find a creative way of avoid it and punt the ball to future Congress
RNPRN

Missing Christmas is not a big deal, millions of workers do it every year because they are working. I missed many Christmas’ with my family due to working in a hospital. So, Boehner, no one feels sorry for you. You guys only work 125 days a year, you are overpaid and underworked. Congress should be cut back, get rid of half of the congressment, that will cost cuts. $179,000 a year, weekly plane rides home, cadillac health care and pensions, you could probably save a trillion dollars over a decade. Go over the cliff, then Obama could request higher taxes on the rich, maybe 45% or more after the Bush tax cuts expire.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5LCXMWHFPRMEYD4RWN56QE2FF4 Grunge45

I shore do feel sorry for those Congress people. They are actually being asked to work.
nobsartist

Perhaps since the republiCONs want to kill ss and medicare, maybe they should just give us all of our cash now, with interest.
Landsende

I have no sympathy for the teathuglicans if they are forced to miss Christmas at home. If they had been doing their jobs in the first place they wouldn’t need to stay in Washington. Police, firefighters, doctors, nurses, military personnel will be working on the holidays and make a fraction of what the politicians do but still do their jobs. It’s time the teathuglicans earned their outrageous salaries and do the job they were elected to do and represent all their constituents, not just the rich.
Rubendlct

Let’s go over the cliff! We know the Repudicants are responsible for and we will have that 2% taxes raised anyway! Way to go, Barack!!!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HNYRLSTTMJG3OD22ZLZZIBSYUI MCullen NE

I think “the fiscal cliff” is another scare tactic. I figure if the rules kick in I am better off than what the repulicans want to do to all of us.
http://profile.yahoo.com/KMBCFOIXMKGSTMHKSAYBOXIKVE Franklin

There is no cliff. We need to allow the cuts to go into place. Stop messing with math…the cliff is just an excuse for “Politicians” to keep playing with debt. We need to take a hit this year in order to restore balance to our budget. The tax rate needs to go to 39% like it was with President Clinton.
nlhsclass57

I am retired, but I would like to see some of the people who want to raise the retirement age try working until the are 67 years old and being a mason or other work tha requires physical labor!!!
rpg1408

I hope that President Obama’s optimism about the willingness of Boehner and his buddies in Congress to give up their precious tax cuts for the wealthy is not misplaced. They’ve been hanging on to that since Day one ,and like Linus and his blanket they won’t let go. If we do go over the “cliff”. then the President should go on National TV and lay the blame squarely where it belongs and keep at it until the voters understand exactly who is responsible for the economic mess we’re in.

Sand_Cat

But all he has to do is NOTHING, so in the end it doesn’t matter what the Republicans do if he stands firm.

http://profile.yahoo.com/HFYZP2APYPP7H6PWS2ZDQRWFEQ Hillbilly

Everyone of us posting on this article and our family members should send an e-mail to crybaby Boehner and let him know that we all know the real reason he and the rest of the Republicans in Congress want the tax cuts for the rich to be permanent . The Republicans in Congress that are rich(which is about 3/4 of them) do not want to pay their fair share of taxes to get this country back on track after they and their President Bush 2 sent it off the tracks and want the middle class and poor to carry the burden of paying more taxes so they can buy imported cars, live in mansions, and wear $1000.00 dollar suits while the rest of us do well to buy hamburger meat to eat. Let Boehner and Mitchell both know since they don’t understand we are tire of the Republicans running rough shod over us and our Country and that they were elected to represent ALL THE PEOPLE not just themselves and the their rich friends and rich donors and that the President does have a mandate to raise their taxes and their rich friends and donors taxes.

vapiet

Have you priced hamburger lately, friend? Try chicken livers, chicken legs or thighs- indeed anything other than beef. Even pork is cheaper than hamburger, loins $1.99 lb. locally. Even my friends call me cheap since I use paper towels ( for myself) VERY thoroughly. Born into the “Great Depression” I just hope I survive the second one- and Hoover did try unlike the Shrub, although neither had a clue about what to do. HH did try at least.

ridemybroom

this is another racist fool !….hes gonna get his feet dirty now…cant wait til BO body slams him ….would teach him right !
http://www.yahoo.de./ Frank Libbon

We the People insist that the President call the GOPs bluff. Go over the Cliff, which is in
reality a “Slope.” As for Boehner, let me remind everyone that he’s the guy who passed out
checks from the Tobacco Industry right on the Floor of the PEOPLES’ House of Representatives over 10 years ago. He has to be bluntly told by the President and the People: “Our Way, or the Highway” Boehner. A POX on them all.
http://profile.yahoo.com/WXAQEVOSVCMLVOA66YIGQ7LGGA manfred

Looks like Boehner can’t get his house together. How can these people expect to fight two wars off of budget and then whine when the bill comes due and they can’t stick it to the middle class. What a bunch! Unfortunately a lot of people will get hurt, no matter what.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZBIWKGJLZRDSUYO3Y5WGY4CJPE common sense1

Republicans went over the cliff 17 days before they gave in to Clinton and paid what they were supposed to, let them do it again the scrooge character bastards. Anyone that will do this to kids shows you what kind of people we are dealing with. They are going nto keep doing this kind of thing thing and someday, may be many years off, they will wake up and find they have lost it all.
http://www.facebook.com/robert.blankenship.779 Robert Blankenship

The polls indicate that Americans overwhelmingly approve of raising tax rates on the wealthy and back the President’s position on the issue.

Boehner’s ‘deal’ is a non-starter and he knows it. YOU LOST the election johnniy boy….live with it and the wishes of the American People.

Maybe if we just ‘cap’ the koch bros it’ll relieve the pressure johnny boy?

You bozos better start doing your jobs…….
http://profile.yahoo.com/RGOUPZ3JYNMPBVOHLZRCRVRD6Q ivory69690

bone-head Boehner and the rest of the GOP ding dongs has to have more going on then meet,s the eye . thy seems to be doing more work and willing for 98% of the country,s ppl. to have harder times then just the 2 % of the greedy bastards. wayyyyyyyyy to much work for just 2 % of the the country . and mind ya thy dont even need the help the GOP ding dongs are doing just for them . there,s something else going on . time to check for the GOP ding dongs off shore accounts . the kroch brother,s have to be feeding them money to fight so hard for them and the greedy bastards . the funny thing is the 98% of the ppl. have them self to blame realy . for thy are the brain dead ppl. that keep voteing in to office the GOP ding dongs one has to ask how stupid the ppl. of this country can be ? pretty dam stupid i gotta say . the ones that vote for the GOP are in the 98% gang . and just because you vote for the GOP dosent mean your a GOP now . it just means ur stupid to fall into there trap . and its not like the 98 % dosent see what the GOP stands for look back not long ago . just to the dirty Bush era . you know the clown that took any money the country had in the bank and blew it . empted out the country,s bank account and for who ? the greedy bastards so thy dont have to pay a fair share of a %. and thy say thy are the job maker . well if thy made the jobs like thy say thy do the country couldnt even be coplaining about what thy pay in taxes . but noooo the greedy bastards cant even make the jobs to keep there breaks comeing in its to much work for the SOB,S the Clinton era the rich got richer and the country had 23 million jobs made in 8 yrs. and wow OMG the country even had money in the bank . and didnt have to brorrow nothing from China . its so strange how ppl. think . thy cry about whats going on so loud and hard . not even opening their eyes and seeing that whats happening thy are doing to them selfs . its like thy cry my head hurts my head hurts so bad . ( well dummie if you stop slaming your into the wall it wont hurt . OOOOOO IS THAT WHAT IS HAPPENING ? DDDAAAAAAAAAAA
http://profile.yahoo.com/SJL6VUGECXFVHMNGM6RHIDQROU SimplyDarlene

That wealthiest, make tax cuts permenant, hugh, the wealthiest or the ones who have sent our jobs away, and now they don’t want to pay taxes either.. Mr. House Speaker, Boehner, Please get a grip, they have to pay taxes!!!!
13observer

Sorry, its more about conserving our CONSTITUTION that the “left” is so eager to dismiss so their agenda can be promoted! The wealthy shouldn’t have to pay the bill for illegal aliens comming here to vote against their interests….really??? who are you shitting?? If the poor want more, GO TO WORK, ORGANIZE A UNION AND THEN SUPPORT IT REGARDLESS OF “RIGHT TO WORK”! THE UNIONS WILL NEGOTIATE YOU A BETTER LIVING STUPID!!!!!OBAMA CAN’T!

Justin Napolitano

13, you are proof that facts do not matter to people like you. The wealthy are not supporting anyone but themselves. They love to take advantage of the so called illegals because they will work for less. The wealthy have one goal and one goal only: become filthy rich and own everything, have just two classes of people, the rich and the poor, and turn this country onto a plutocracy.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OLT3BBICDAFJXQAHHKXXLJUCH4 Stella53

And as a middle class American I shouldn’t have to carry the burden either. The wealthy can afford to pay more. They’ve had it great in this country for decades. The wealthy will pay more, make no mistake about it – constitution or no constitution. You neo-cons will lose this one too.

ronaldhyams

the republicans seem to have chosen party before country, rich before poor, and if we go over the cliff the blame will fall on them, we can then credit them being stupid before smart.Why would anyone after looking at their political ineptness want to vote for them again? They really do NOT represent the majority of Americans.
Skyline43

Boehner should resign if he has to protect the wealthy. It is apparent that he doesn’t care about the middle class. All I can say “you’re fired”!!!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OLT3BBICDAFJXQAHHKXXLJUCH4 Stella53

I think he does care but his cowardice and fear of losing his speakership far outweighs doing the right thing by the middle class.

michael piltoff

I am with you, lets go over “the cliff” and let the chips fall where they may, it will be worth it to get this Right Wingers out of the way and have an all Demo government. This Tea POarty “Hootananny” needs to end..
highpckts

GO OVER THE CLIFF!!! Boehner needs to understand he IS NOT the President!! What an inflated ego!! I truly hope our President doesn’t let him get away with all that posturing!!
Edward Luchetti

There are thousands of out of work Veterans. What about them as reards the Unemployment Insurance Extension?!
Edward Luchetti

The Koch Bros. can turn this around with one quick phone call to Speaker Boehner.
http://www.facebook.com/clarence.swinney Clarence Swinney

SUCCCESS FAILURE
Obama
added 8 years to Medicare solvency
recovered 10.7 B in crackdown on fraud
preventative services to 47M
800,000 youths added to parents insurance
unemploy=8.6% in 2011—5.4% in 1996

TheOldNorthChurch

I don’t think so:

Medicare Trustee Report 2012
The financial outlook for Medicare is also uncertain because some provisions of current law that are designed to reduce costs may not be sustained. The clearest example of this issue is the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for physician fee schedule payment levels. The projections in this report assume that, as required by current law, CMS will implement a reduction in Medicare payment rates for physician services of more than 30 percent at the start of 2013. However, it is a virtual certainty that lawmakers, cognizant of the disruptive consequences of such a sudden, sharp reduction in payments, will override this reduction just as they have every year since 2003.

Short-Range Results
The estimated exhaustion date for the HI trust fund remains at 2024, the same year shown in last year’s report. As in past years, the Trustees have determined that the fund is not adequately financed over the next 10 years. HI expenditures have exceeded income annually since 2008, and projected amounts continue doing so through the short-range period until the fund becomes exhausted in 2024.

http://profile.yahoo.com/BLNRG7OCKR3ME3MSVJG7HKVZLM Tom

I suppose I will get a tax increase on my 40% landfall social security and my retirement annuity I worked 35 years of earn, but I’ll be dammed if the President should cave into the fat cat republicans. I’m proud to be an independent. Tommy Sr/
Skyline43

Stella 53 I agree with you that there is lots of pressure in his position. There is evidence of cowardice and fear and you can see that when he speaks. However, that is his job–DARE TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT AND LOSE YOUR JOB IF NECESSARY. This is an example of what is wrong with our two party system. It is not working because they chose to disagree on most everything and NOTHING gets accomplished!! We should not have to deal with the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove or the Super Pacs during an election as we did this last election. Congress is to busy protecting their job and forgeting who they are representing.

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