House Speaker John Boehner over the weekend proposed some major “fiscal cliff” compromises: In return for $1 trillion in spending cuts, he would agree to $1 trillion in higher tax revenue over 10 years, an increase in the top tax rate on people making more than $1 million a year (as opposed to the president’s proposed $250,000 threshold), and an agreement to postpone debt-ceiling negotiations for one year.
The White House said no.
Unsurprisingly — and despite the fact that the White House has turned down the Speaker’s offers — Boehner has managed to rile a few on the right.
“Not only is Boehner prepared to raise taxes – both through capping deductions and increasing marginal rates – he is now prepared to preemptively surrender our last point of leverage in one fell swoop,” writes Daniel Horowitz for Red State. “Boehner offered Obama a clean 1-year debt ceiling extension as part of the deal to raise taxes in return for fake spending cuts.”
“Boehner is acting like a desperate person on a sinking ship who is tossing everything overboard,” he adds. “This is a man who would pay more than the sticker price for a car.”
Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle referred to the Speaker’s offers as “caves.”
Meanwhile, the conservative group Club for Growth roundly condemned Boehners’ proposal.
“First Speaker Boehner offered to raise tax rates after promising not to, and now he’s offering to raise the debt ceiling. Raising tax rates is anti-growth and raising the debt ceiling is pro-government growth – and this is the Republican position?” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola in a statement.
As highlighted by Mr. Chocola’s statement, the Speaker’s debt ceiling offer has many pundits questioning his political savvy.
“House Speaker John A. Boehner has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a major concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget,” the Washington Post reported.
“Republicans resigned to ‘losing’ the Fiscal Cliff fight have been hopeful that they could use the debt ceiling as leverage to get more spending cuts,” writed Business Insider’s Joe Weisenthal. “Now Boehner seems to be giving that up, while also cracking (ever so slightly) on higher taxes.”
The Speaker’s tax rate proposal calls for about $450 billion in revenue from increasing the top rate on million-dollar-plus income from 35 percent to the Clinton-era rate of 39.6 percent. The additional revenue required to meet the $1 trillion target would be collected through a rewrite of the tax code next year and by slowing the inflation adjustments made to tax brackets.
Boehner’s $1 trillion cut proposal would be paired with a comparable increase in the borrowing cap, enough to keep the government borrowing for about a year. But if the cuts are smaller, the debt limit increase would be smaller as well.
“Our position has not changed. Any debt limit increase would require cuts and reforms of a greater amount,” said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck.
President Obama originally sought $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue over a decade and has since revised that to $1.4 trillion, the only concession he has been willing to make.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

























































































































Comments (61)
blackbean
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:40pmBoehner needs to stop this one sided pony show. Doesn’t he realize Republicans are going to get the blame for anything that goes wrong whether they play along or not? Just vote present and let it go over already. Let the wh joker and his clueless santa clause party do what they do best, nothing! How will the clueless, willingly blind voters in this country ever awaken to their destruction if Republicans keep trying to rescue it. Quit being a bleeding heart and let it be all on them for a change.
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Ghandi was a Republican
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:56pmThat is entirely correct. You must remember however that there are propagandists (mostly funded with re-directed stimulus funds to progressive soros/alinsky groups) masquerading as lobbyists. That should explain why Republicans get to Washington and then get confused. They are given false polling and false narratives and bombarded with propaganda. This is why the tree of liberty needs watered with fresh and new Conservatives who come freshly out of the real World. That is a 6 year election cycle at a minimum. We are only in the beginning of the process. 2/3ds of it, much of it corrupted by voter fraud as in the cases of Franken, West AND YES- OBAMA, who did not win with the actual vote. We know this because we have the proof and the legal shenanigans on the record.
With obama (and West) we watched the bogus count scrolling the TV screens A WEEK before the elections for crying out loud.
So– Everything predicated on the cheated results is a false narrative. The sooner we act accordingly, the better. No fraud- No obama, Franken, Senate majority — we wouldn’t be having any of this conversation.
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JRook
Dec. 17, 2012 at 2:51pmOr perhaps all the clowns in Washington and the ideological intellects here should actually see the deficit for what it is and consider taking action to LOWER it. The federal deficit $10+ trillion of which was run up under Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. represents prior sending above tax revenues. The fact that the government borrowed SS and Medicare money to pay it at the time does not change what it is. Which means military contractors, hospitals, physicians, big pharma, infrastructure contractors and IT companies received a boatload of federal debt money. So it is time for those groups along with the baby boomers who benefited from the related jobs and investment income associated with that spending to pay the tab. Not our children and grandchildren through cuts to education, infrastructure and other beneficial investments in the US. If SS and Medicare are underfunded like most of the state pension funds, that should be fixed, but neither one of these programs caused the current federal deficit. So the country needs to balance the current budget through a balance of across the board spending cuts and higher taxes. A 2% VAT tax earmarked to pay off the long term deficit should similarly be enacted. It is really time for the children to leave the room, so the the few remaining adults can face facts and solve the problem.
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RDavis49
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:39pmHere’s why Hussein Obama gets along so well with Old White Guys in the government… Obama is a homosexual and he prefers “Old White Guys”…. Don’t take my word for it, go here and read it for yourselves from non other than a fellow Liberal DEMOCRAT sucker …….. You liberal loons have been duped by Obama again………. LoL !!!!!!
http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/claim-obama-hid-gay-life-to-become-president/
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HellboundandDown
Dec. 17, 2012 at 3:14pmoh you shouldn’t use terms like L-O-L. That one stands for Lucifer Our Lord. That’s why all the young folk use it. It’s a trap!
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Ghandi was a Republican
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:36pmWhat Boehner should do is simple. Boehner should pass a bill leaving all tax rates intact, with the cuts obama RAN ON TO GET ELECTED. Then walk away. Say nothing, do nothing. Obama got what he claimed he wanted (less the class warfare).
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES – NOBODY RAN ON RAISING TAXES. NO DEMOCRATS (except the very few in radically gerrymandered districts), NO REPUBLICANS.
In fact 90% of the entire Government ran on CUTTING SPENDING!
The people know what they voted for- Obama LIED to them.
It’s not rocket science. no amount of media propaganda can change what people know about what they really want and voted for. Pass legislation that mirrors the campaign PLATFORMS and walk away!
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I.X.Pect
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:17pmI suspect this will happen anyway. Given your comment below (with which I agree), it will show that Boehner went really far in an attempt to get a deal, and then the deal collapses. Boehner and the Republicans will then pass an extension for all tax brackets for 1 more year. Obama will be forced with a choice of either signing or vetoing it, assuming that a bill gets that far. If Obama signs it, he will preserve his tax cuts for the middle class, but blame Republicans for the 1%. Republicans live to fight another day. If Obama refuses to sign it, Republicans will have a field day in saying how Obama raised taxes on the middle class. Boehner just needs to keep the circle of dialog going until time expires.
I also wonder if some Republicans are getting comfortable with the idea of letting the cliff happen. In such a case, the cuts in the social programs are mandatory along with the defense cuts, and taxes on everyone would be raised, which would be “fair”. Additionally, if the economy falters, the Republicans can then blame the Democrat claim that Clinton’s tax rates produced a productive economy. However, that would require an audience to be receptive to that message.
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gb123
Dec. 18, 2012 at 1:01amWhat he should do is resign, get the **** out of the way, and retire to an orange paint factory, next door to an onion farm (for the false tears).
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Ghandi was a Republican
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:31pmBoehner is not caving. Get a grip people. What Boehner is doing is exposing obama. He is saying he will give obama some of what obama claims he wants. Obama is saying NO regardless,
THAT is the story here. That obama is a hippocrite and a liar and has no intention of leaving middle income tax rates where they are.
THAT IS THE ONLY STORY HERE! Just because the liberal; propagandists try to make it another one of their lies- doesn’t make it the real story,. Think about it.
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SocialistSlayer
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:36pmEverything you say is true but your faith in that Wimp Boehner is misplaced! He is nothing more than a Traitor and a Fake!
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Chromo200
Dec. 17, 2012 at 4:18pmHe will cave after this weekend when he comes back form Ohio .. Ohioans want Santa Claus.
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SocialistSlayer
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:28pmBoehner is a Communist and a Wimp – I already know everything I need to know about this Traitor ! The rest of the Republican Sissy’s need to oust him and that Communist Traitor Eric Cantor from Speaker of the House !
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cloudsofwar
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:25pmobama wants what he wants period. he is not interested in reaching a deal. boehner should have a vote on his bill and if it passes let the dem senate turn it down. then he can blame the dems for going over the cliff. this is all about the house in 2014. obama needs to get the house in 2014 so he can finish the transformation.
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Shasta
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:37pmReid doesn’t allow legislation for a floor vote, if it might prove embarrassing to the democrats. And with our MSM being corrupt, the country would never even know what the house might do. I wonder when the low lying fruit that aided Oblamo’s re-election will start to realize their mistake. When there is no energy for their cars and heaters or when there is no money for their entitlements. Either way there will be riots.
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AbrahamsSheepdog
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:24pmWhen you barter, the weaker desprite side shuffles every thing around. We are talking Trillions more debt. For what? Its all monopoly money.
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Chrison
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:23pmThese idiots in Washington (ALL of them!) will continue to play games and do nothing until the economy totally collapses and they have no choice but to act responsibly. Obama won’t stop the class warfare until all the wealthy people with half a brain move themselves and their money out of the country (just like France and England) and there’s nobody left to demonize. The Congress will continue to run in circles touting “restraint” all the while approving ever-increasing entitlements and wasteful spending until the Treasury is bankrupt.
The “fiscal cliff” is NOT approaching on January 1st! That so-called “cliff” is a mere ant hill compared to the REAL “fiscal cliff” that’s coming once the Federal Reserve as devalued the dollar to worthlessness and interest rates go through the roof because Government debt instruments are worthless.
All you folks who have Obama phones and food stamps enjoy them while you can! We’re not too far off from the day your phone will go dead and your food stamps won’t buy you a pack of gum!
All you folks with any amount of investments get your money OUT of American and invest in tangible assets like gold and silver!
The rest of us should start stockpiling food and (if you own a gun) ammunition, and get ready to hunker down for a VERY long and nasty depression!
Oh, and by the way… Merry Christmas everyone! Be sure to thank your politicians for the Christmas “gifts” you’re about to receive!
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perry1980
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:23pmThe president has said for 4 years that Millionaires and Billionaires should pay more.
Fine that is what Boehner is offering. More taxes on Millionaires.
If the Potus turns that down it once again proves he is a Fraud and a Liar
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Normanator01
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:18pmBoehner is caving…..but the most intresting fact is Obama is still turning it down……he truly wants to crush the economy. The crash will come anyways, but Obama wants to quicken the pace.
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NigelTufnel
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:17pmIt will take a few weeks but this will be acknowledged as a pretty good offer if not a great one. It’s an offer to cut 1/5 off of our annual losses while giving Obama one unabated year of spending without question or consequence. Which of course would give the gop something to talk about. Knowing full well Obama wants to start an infrastructure bank(slush fund) that will take 450 billion up front, Odumbo would blow through the additional 200,000 billion the gop just gave him and then they will churp. Boehner and the rest of the gop know that Obamacare will destroy 2013 and 2014 growth all by itself. However they have to give Obama and the left some socialist rope to hang themselves with. Not surprising Obama turned it down. Now the question becomes, how much is enough Mr. President?
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NOCLUE
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:12pmWhat Boenher has proven is that obummer isn’t interested in a deal….period.He want to head over the cliff.
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Normanator01
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:41pmyup
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DZ-015
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:04pmSlowing inflation adjustments for tax brackets is a real bad idea. Many are predicting the possibility of increased inflation in the near future. If tax brackets can’t be adjusted fully for it, then more of our money will be siphoned off by the government in the meantime. I have never heard Obama or any of his minion upper echelon state that the proposed $200/250 K income bracket will be adjusted for inflation. If not, we’ll all be in the top bracket sooner than you might think. A free one year pass on the debt limit is another giveaway. Why not tie any tax increases to immediate spending cuts to “pay for them” as the ‘crats were fond of saying during the Bush years?
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NigelTufnel
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:28pmOnce Obama won re-election the gop was guarenteed to have to make an offer. They have offered what Obama campaigned on yet still not nearly enough for Obama to spend what he wants to. But still it will cut our annual deficit by 20%. Not a bad starter. In the long run it brings the upper tax rate to 39.5% which is closer to the corporate tax rate of 43%. In order for the so called $2 trillion to start coming off the sidelines the corporate rate needs to be below the individual rate. Of course Obama is way too stupid to understand this. But it sets up a future move to lower the corporate rate a few points and raise the top rate a few more points to make this happen. It’s a great offer but Obama being beholden to economic retards will not accept this.
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1HonestInjun
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:03pmThe government is going in debt a trillion dollars a year. Boehner’s offer is to cut only the increase
of spending a trillion dollars over the next ten years. So, we still will be going a trillion dollars in
debt each year for the next tens years. We aren’t cutting spending, just the increase in spending.
Sixteen trillion in debt today. 26 trillion in debt 10 years from now. What a crock.
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TRILO
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:59amSell out!
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hauschild
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:59amWith teammates like Cry Baby, who needs an opposing team???
What an utter disaster this due is!
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Dumpster Baby
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:56am***** knows four more years of obstructionism will totally destroy the party. Too bad the rest of the repubs don’t see it.
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airborneoathkeeper
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:58pmToo busy counting their stuff……they are the same fools who believe in their pee-picking little hearts that all of this crap will just blow over as it has done in the past and it is that past that WILL distroy them in the end.
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Walkabout
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:47amObama is not compromising one iota. Boehner is. The leftist media chatter about compromise & bipartisanship.
Obama’s way will not work. He wants increase taxes (revenues) & increased spending. He is not stupid. He knows what he is doing.
Obama’s way will not work. Even leftist bundlers to Obama’s campaign are shifting earning to this year to take advantage of lower taxes. If you raise taxes but get less revenue, then either you want to break the current system or you are pigheaded.
Break the system. “From each according to means to each according to his needs”. HMMM how did that work? Russia 0. China 0. Cuba 0. North Korea 0. Vietnam 0.
Cuba is not working. Ask the Ladies in white. Yes the ladies in white dress in white but the majority seem to be black. How did the white Castro brothers put so many black men in prison? Remember the BLACK SPRING!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladies_in_White
Mot only does communism not seem to work but it always degenerates into an oligarchy. In North Korea about 100 families live the high life.
Even before devolving into an oligarchy, the leaders of communists nations always seem to NEED more living space, more homes (dachas hidden in then forest) & more women (even Mao).
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Walkabout
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:58amAbout the Ladies in White. It is estimated that 34% to 62% of the Cuban population has African ancestry. Look at the pictures of the “Ladies in White” & see the disproportionate outcomes of the Communist Castro brother’s policing.
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RJJinGadsden
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:44amThe only concession that 0bama will find acceptable is total capitulation on the part of Boehner. 0bama has preached from day one that the wealthy need to pay their fair share. All while they pay most of the taxes in this nation already. The crazy part in my opinion is that 0bama screams how MILLIONAIRES and BILLIONAIRES must pay more, then he goes after those making $250,000. Then our sycophant trolls eat it up and parrot the same thing here. That is simply class warfare on their part. Nothing else.
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The_Jerk
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:49amGOP, Government Operating *******.
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Walkabout
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:56amBoehner compromised. I can see this as good thing. the best outcome is that the news of Boehner’s compromise is widely reported. Saturday the 22nd rolls around & Obama has not budged.
Come the New Year Obama will be seen as obstructionist & non-bipartisan.
Come the New Year we can take everything off the table since Obama rejected it & begin anew & put Obama under the screws. He certainly deserves it.
Albert Edwards: “Something Bad Happened In November” -Zerohedge And it wasn’t just Sandy.
Obama is running this economy into the ground & come 2014, 2010 will seem like a small downpour to the Democrats. Senator Reid will not longer be in charge of the Senate.
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afishfarted
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:43amlast week, there were 16 votes needed to vote him out of speakership. That number will be smaller this week. And Johnny is gonna shed more teas come Jan.
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legendarytwo
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:42amJudas Iscariot
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UNALIEN
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:40amNext, BOEHNER will roll and his back and Obama will pat his belly
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IMCHRISTIAN
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:40amObama is trying to spend us in to oblivion and Boehner is hanging on to his shirt tale. Overspending has to stop now.
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IMCHRISTIAN
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:47amcorr shirttail
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ranepowel
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:51amIf we cut the military budget in half we’d still outspend number 2 in military spending (China) by over 100%. Cut the military budget and we could be debt free in twenty years.
Oh, wait. Most conservatives won’t agree to do that. Why? Cuz ‘Murica.
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UNALIEN
Dec. 17, 2012 at 12:29pm@RANEPOWEL
not true, comparing the Chinese military budget to the US is dishonest and misleading..
The “published” Chinese military budget number comes from the Chinese government, but internally China is a completely closed financial system and their Government runs everything. China has the largest standing army and there is no way to get a $ budget number, ex. what does an American soldier make vs a Chinese soldier.. In a closed, communist, centrally planned financial system there is no way to get an accurate Military expense and compare it to the US.
“It always amazes me when otherwise-sophisticated defence commentators reduce defence expenditure comparisons to straight nominal currency-exchange values without taking purchasing power into account. China’s defence spending may be “only” $150B but China doesn’t pay its soldiers $40,000-$80,000 per year. Nor do they pay their contractors, food & weapon suppliers or technicians the huge (often inflated) amounts paid by the Pentagon. Producing the simpler defence items such as APCs, food supplies, ammunition, etc. in China is vastly cheaper and the results are almost the same, if not equal.”
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BehindBlueEyes
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:40amWhen is Boehner going to realize he’s dealing with a communist dictator?
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Texan4ever
Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:39amAny way you look at this, it’s treason. These politicians all have theirs and don’t want to change anything for THEMSELVES, but screw the Americans who put them there. Raising taxes is not the answer and they know it. This is what is wrong with our country: a dumbed down populace and politicians who play the game for their own benefit. If this isn’t an argument for the 2nd Amendment, I don’t know what is.
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