As we reported earlier today, President Obama is strongly and publicly urging Congress to extend the Bush-era tax cuts on the middle class, while letting those lowertax rates for the wealthy expire.
Obama said he was “open to new ideas” to resolve the looming fiscal cliff -- a mix of steep tax hikes and spending cuts set to automatically take effect at year's end -- but insisted he wouldn’t back down from raising taxes on the wealthy.
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said he’s unwilling to hike taxes on upper-income earners. But he did say “everything on the revenue side and on the spending side has to be looked at,” suggesting that he might be willing to compromise on tax revenue, if not tax rates.
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Tune into Hardball tonight at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. We’ll have former RNC Chair Michael Steele and former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers to weigh in on whether or not the two sides will negotiate and what the detail might entail.