WASHINGTON — Rep. John Boehner, the senior Republican leader in the House, signaled Sunday he was willing to compromise on the increasingly divisive issue of taxes, announcing he would reluctantly support extending new tax cuts for the middle class even if that meant cuts for the wealthy would expire.
But Boehner, of Ohio, also made it clear he still thought ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy was “bad policy” because he believes those cuts helped to stimulate the economy and create jobs.
And he said he did not necessarily agree that renewed lower tax rates for families making less than $250,000 a year was the best way to go either.
Nevertheless, Boehner, interviewed on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said, “If the only option I have is to vote for some of those reductions, I’ll vote for it.”
“If the only option I have is to vote for those at 250 (thousand) and below,” he added, “of course I’m going to do that. But I’m going to do everything I can to fight to make sure that we extend the current tax rates for all Americans.”
The Obama administration is pushing for a permanent tax-rate cut for middle-class Americans, and last week the president singled out Boehner for criticism during a speech in Parma, Ohio, saying the Republican offered “no new ideas” and was following the “same philosophy that led to this mess in the first place: Cut more taxes for millionaires, and cut more rules for corporations.”
The president also has warned that extending the cuts enacted under President George W. Bush for the wealthy would increase the budget deficit by $700 billion over the next 10 years.
To that end, senior White House adviser David Axelrod encouraged Republicans to join Democrats to support permanent cuts for middle-class Americans while ending those for the wealthy by the end of this year.
“We agree on the middle-class tax cuts,” said Axelrod, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Let’s not hold them hostage while we debate whether we’re going to give this very small number of (wealthy) people a tax cut that we can’t afford.”
The issue of tax cuts is all the more volatile now in the run-up to the midterm congressional elections in November. Many public-opinion polls show that most Americans favor letting the tax cuts for the wealthy run out by year’s end, noting that much of the economy has continued to stall.
But some Democrats in both the House and Senate, concerned over losing control of Congress this fall, wonder if it would be smarter to lower middle-class tax rates now but keep the cuts for the wealthy in place, at least until the economy improves.
Boehner said he would prefer that plan — lowering rates for the middle class but also maintaining the cuts for the wealthy.
“I’ve been making the point now for months that we need to extend all the current rates for all Americans if we want to get our economy going again,” he said. “And we want to get jobs in America.”
In another development Sunday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said that although Democrats will “probably” lose some seats, he remained confident they would continue to run the House after the November elections.
“We’re going to hold the House,” the Maryland Democrat predicted on CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “Our candidates are feeling good.”
Yet Hoyer also acknowledged that the Democratic Party may not be able to support all of its candidates, especially those trailing by large margins.
“If there are candidates that are very substantially behind and can’t make it,” he said, “clearly we will have to make some tough judgments.”
