Real News': Boehner's Gamble With Plan B

The House is set to vote on Speaker John Boehner's “Plan B” to deal with the fiscal cliff, that would let tax cuts expire only on those making $1 million or more a year and offer a 1:1 ratio of spending cuts and revenue. House Majority Leader, and considered the voice of the more conservative wing of the Republican caucus, Eric Cantor has said he believes Plan B will have the votes in the House to pass, yet Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that the plan will not even get a vote in the Senate, and the president has said he will veto it either way.

So what is the political upside in taking this gamble as many conservative groups are up in arms about Boehner's offer and Democrats look unwilling to budge without raising taxes for all income earners over $250,000? The Washington Examiner editorial board sets the stage for why Plan B is likely the best option for conservatives:

Realizing that negotiations with Obama were going nowhere, Boehner introduced a Plan B to his conference yesterday that is probably the best deal conservatives can hope for. Plan B would allow tax rates to rise on incomes over $1 million a year, fix the Alternative Minimum Tax that is scheduled to hit thousands of middle-class families and reform the estate tax to protect small businesses. All told, Boehner's Plan B would prevent tax hikes from hitting 99.81 percent of all Americans.

No, Plan B would not address the real drivers of our national debt; the big four entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare. But as long as Obama is president, no meaningful reform of these programs is possible anyway.

On 'Real News' Thursday Buck Sexton and the panel broke down what is in Plan B, the likely scenario for negotiations if it does or doesn't pass, and if conservative stalwarts have a point in insisting that we not raise taxes. Watch a clip from the show below: