After two years of shutting republicans out of major debates, Obama hopes to make some friends with Republicans as he calls for bipartisanship. Considering how Obama, Pelosi, and the Democrats shut the door on Republicans during the health care debate, let's hope Republicans aren't played by Obama and are willing to stand up to him.
Obama says he wan'ts a "real and honest discussion" on Tuesday when it comes to the Bush tax cuts. I don't know how much more honest you can get than American families, already strapped for cash can't afford another $3,000 in taxes. As well, Americans making over $250,000, which are the small business owners need to be creating jobs and not sending more money to Washington either. Everyone else is being forced to tighten their belts, and Washington needs to do the same before calling on Americans to sacrifice more of their incomes to the federal leviathan.
However, it's unlikely Obama is going to budge on the $250,000 mark.
The top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, who is expected to attend the meeting at the White House on Tuesday, said last week, "Americans don't think we should be raising taxes on anybody, especially in the middle of a recession."
But President Obama and Congressional Democrats, who argue the government can't afford to lose tax money coming in from the wealthy, want to extend the tax cuts for those families making $250,000 or less, about 98% of taxpayers.
The tax cuts expire at the end of this year.