| Conservatives Revolt Over Republican Fiscal Cliff Counter-Proposal |
| Dec-04-2012 |
| Keywords: conservative, backlash, proposal, fiscal cliff, counter-proposal, demint, gohmert |
House Speaker Boehner is contending with only with the White House's rebuff of the Republican counter offer to avoid the fiscal cliff, but a backlash among conservatives as well.
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a Tea Party conservative, on Tuesday said his party's plan "will destroy American jobs and allow politicians in Washington to spend even more."
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said Boehner's proposal was "not a good place to start."
The Heritage Foundation is among the conservative think tanks and advocacy groups that also expressed skepticism over the Republican proposal to increase revenues, hike taxes, by $800 billion over ten years.
Those internal criticisms seemingly emboldened the White House's rejection of the Republican counter-proposal.
President Obama in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday said the Republican plan is "out of balance" and he will not agree to a deal that doesn't include hiking taxes on the top 2% of earners.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney more colorfully reiterated the president's critique of the proposal, equating it to "magic beans and fairy dust."
The Republican counter-offer includes $800 billion in revenue through tax reform; $600 billion in health savings; $300 billion in other entitlement savings; and another $300 billion in savings elsewhere in the discretionary federal budget.
Republicans were similarly unimpressed with the president's call for $1.6 trillion in tax hikes -- four times the value of his proposed spending cuts. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 10:00 PM Email to a friend |
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