McConnell Breaks Out In Laughter Over Geithner's Proposal

McConnell and Boehner better not fold on these negotiations.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, says he “burst into laughter” Thursday when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner outlined the administration proposal for averting the fiscal cliff. He wasn’t trying to embarrass Geithner, McConnell says, only responding candidly to his one-sided plan, explicit on tax increases, vague on spending cuts.

Geithner’s visit to his office left McConnell discouraged about reaching a “balanced” deal on tax hikes and spending reductions designed to prevent a shock to the economy in January. “Nothing good is happening” in the negotiations, McConnell says, because of Obama’s insistence on tax rate hikes for the wealthy but unwillingness to embrace serious spending cuts.

Geithner suggested $1.6 trillion in tax increases, McConnell says, but showed “minimal or no interest” in spending cuts. When congressional leaders went to the White House three days after the election, Obama talked of possible curbs on the explosive growth of food stamps and Social Security disability payments. But since Geithner didn’t mention them, those reductions appear to be off the table now, McConnell says.

Obama is pushing to raise the tax rates on couples earning more than $250,000 and individuals earning more than $200,000. But those wouldn’t produce revenues anywhere near $1.6 trillion over a decade.

The “guess” of those involved in the negotiations, Politico reported, is that a bipartisan deal “will include a rate hike, higher taxes on carried interest and probably capital gains and dividends, and either a cap on total deductions for rich people or some form of a minimum tax rate for them.”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs...ter-geithner-outlined-obamas-plan_664210.html

 

The Obama administration's opening bid on Thursday in negotiations to avert a year-end fiscal crunch included a demand for new stimulus spending and authority to unilaterally raise the U.S. borrowing ceiling, a Republican congressional aide said.

The proposal, made by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to congressional Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, was seen as offering little the Republicans could agree to and was greeted with laughter, the aide said.

"We can't move any closer to them because they're not even on our planet," the aide said. "It was not a serious proposal."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/30/us-usa-fiscal-offer-idUSBRE8AT02C20121130

 

Senator Jeff Sessions: “Secretary Geithner has offered no plan on behalf of the President. Newspaper articles and leaks from anonymous aides are not a plan. Until this fantasy ‘plan’ from a secret meeting is made public and scored by the Congressional Budget Office it does not exist. Based on history, we can safely assume that reports that this ‘plan’ saves $4 trillion is a fabrication. It is a distraction that allows the White House to continue to run out the clock so it can have maximal leverage to force through a bad deal in the last minutes before midnight.”

 

Somebody managed to capture it on camera as well

 

Sessions represents Alabama I might add.

 

I guess that may explain some of it, but what about the rest of the nonsense?

 

Idiots like pspr dont seem to understand that Obama won this battle when he got republicans to agree to the fiscal cliff in the first place.If no deal is made no cuts to ss and medicare,all the bush tax cuts expire,military spending is cut and republicans take all the blame for the negative consequences

 

Not a fan of taking victory laps, but have to agree. It will cost me a bunch, and I have to admit that I have to do some Dancing during December with my lawyers and accountants, but I'm willing to pay more since it's my duty as an American first. Sorry to use the word American in my last few posts, just trying to get his side vs. side thing a rest. Probably not much chance here on ET, our little microcosm of the extreme.

 

If true then there is no advantage in cooperating.
I wouldn't, besides this fiscal cliff stuff is nonsense from my perspective.

 

Wow, we agree again, all nonsense.