(CNN) - In what would be a major concession, President Obama and Senate Democrats will drop their insistence that a surtax on millionaires pay for extending the payroll tax cut, a Democratic source tells CNN. This would be part of a new Democratic offer.
The move comes after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Senate Democrats met with President Obama at the White House earlier today.
From CNN Politics
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You know that image macro that's just a huge collage of characters from films, television, and animation letting their faces drop into their palms in dismay and chagrin?
That's how I feel about this. Way to flinch, Obama.
Very good decision by the Democrats. And very good work by the Republicans in congress for holding your ground on this one. I still don't agree with the idea of de-funding Social Security just because it is a convenient way to make nice with a huge majority of voters leading into an election year.
Unbelievable. When will our Dem reps stand firm. I would have rather they stand firm on this and let the tax go up. The one thing I have to give the GOP credit for. They are not scared to play chicken to get their way. It's time the Dems took a page out of that playbook.
What do we get in return? This is why Obama is having trouble within his own party. He caves in too easy. Negotiations are one thing – a give and take; quid pro quo. But, when the party in the minority is dictating and you're giving in, well that's just capitulation. That's why many Dems are less than enthusiastic about the next election. Most of us will vote for Obama simply because he is better than the alternative. But many will just not bother to go to the polls. And that is a big problem. A move like this isn't helping.
I said I was nervous about this issue yesterday. I was right. I knew it would go this way.
ROPE. Watch how the GOPers gather it.
"What do we get in return? This is why Obama is having trouble within his own party. He caves in too easy. Negotiations are one thing – a give and take; quid pro quo. "
And someone has to be the big person...the LEADER...and make an offer to do so first. When it's met with a refusal to make any like-kind exchange and demands from GOPers/Teatrolls that it's still their way or the highway, they officially stick their heads in the noose for him...and this is how it was assured that the polls showed the GOP was blamed for the debt ceiling debacle and other shutdown fights. If they refuse to compromise in any reasonable way now, they take all the blame in public opinion. If they still insist on their pipeline and the cuts that would harm the middle-class, then Obama gets to retract the offer in compromise and point at the GOP's recalcitrance and rigidity and ideologically driven, politically motivated refusal to compromise. They fall for it every time.
Obama and the Democrats need to stop compromising with the GOtP. You compromised when you had a super majority. You are compromising now. STOP GIVING IN. IT MAKES YOU LOOK WEAK
Excellent, now can we get to the real issue, the astronomical amount of money spent each year for this bloated goverment. Maybe if we do some real cuts in spending we can actually cut taxes as opposed to raising them. National Debt is increasing at $2M per minute (look it up if you don't beleive me). The only person in this race with a solid plan to correct the ship is Ron Paul. He is sadly the last hope for America. At the $2M per minute pace, the next election will be too late to save this country. But all good things must come to an end I guess, or at least that must be the opinion of Obama, Newt and Romney. None of them care about the deficit or even have a solid plan to reduce it.
The debt comittee couldn't even come up with $1.4 Trillion in cuts over 10 years which incidently would not have reversed course on our bankruptcy, just postponed it a few years. Ron Paul will cut $1T in the first year of his presidency. Those are real cuts, cuts this country so desperately needs.
Someone had to force the democrats to be sensible. Now they need to work on getting companies to bring jobs back to America by not making it so profitable for companies to move jobs overseas.
OMG....once again...the Democrats are caving!!! Stop it for goodness sake!!! Let the taxes go up!!! It'll be on the Republicans head and give them even more rope to hang themselves come next election.... Stop giving in to these bullies! They will do WHATEVER it takes to protect their millionaire interests...why don't you call their bluff? Yes...it would mean that my taxes would go up too, but I'd rather see you guys stand up for what's right than cave it to these punks...Geez...
When will the dens figure out that every thing the repubs cooked up with always fails. Lesson the country is getting more impoverished while the rich is seeing the best times of their lives. The last time this happened the great depression was upon us. Lesson we need to tax the rich so that money can come down to the common man, to spend at our local small businrsses. I am sick and tired of the rich sucking this country dry of our money and wont invest back into our country so that the money circulate. They rather invest in other country as our is left dryof revenue.
Phil in KC
What do we get in return?
______________________________________________________________________________________________
An extension of the payroll tax cut.
"That's why many Dems are less than enthusiastic about the next election. Most of us will vote for Obama simply because he is better than the alternative. But many will just not bother to go to the polls. And that is a big problem. A move like this isn't helping."
There would have been even less going to the polls had the middle class seen a tax increase. Start living in the real world and quit whining. You are playing right into the Republicans hands ... something most Democrats have been more than willing to do time and again. Reference Four and the Door. All blather, no substance. Makes one sick to read his crap ... yet, all Democrats seem to do is whine. Same program, different channel, little difference. GO TO THE POLLS AND VOTE THE REPUBLICANS OUT, or sit and whine and whimper. You make the call. We are where we are because too many whined and cried in 2010. It's on each and everyone of you who "made a statement" back then. Live with it, or keep making that same statement and see just how worse it can, and will, get.
Obama/Biden 2012
Phil, totally agree. We were strong Obama supporters in 08' and have been disappointed many times since. When will Dems get some backbone and actually stick up for the American people and stop letting the Reps control the debate. This is why there is so much apathy on the Dem side, they do not see the Dems actually working for us. I would still never vote for any of the Reps running. As poor a job I believe President Obama may be doing, we would be in far worse shape had McCain won, and would be even in worse shape if any of the Reps actually won next year.
Silly mistake.Obama should have held out for the end of the Bush tax cuts on the grounds of fiscal sanity. While the Payroll Tax cut will be important to millions of Americans, the tax cut for millionaires is opposed by 70% of Americans, and even the wealthy class themselves.
This will no doubt go badly for the Republicans as it fuels the "class warfare" nonsense that will inevitably blow up on them and firmly paints the Republicans as the party of the super-rich and exclusive.
Notice how there's no mention of what the Dems got in exchange for this MASSIVE concession? That's because there isn't anything. They bent over yet again, after promising us that they would stand firm for once.
Obama will not win re-election if he keeps caving to the Republicans like this. The millionaire tax is a given. It's good public policy. An overwhelming majority of Americans support it. And he still caved. This is truly pathetic!
Shame on you, President Obama and Senate Democratic leadership!! How can you look at us with a straight face and ask for our vote when you refuse to stand-up for the things you promised you'd stand-up for?! Let the Republicans kill the payroll tax cut. Yes, it'll hurt in the short term, but you need to have some faith in the voters of this country. According to every poll that's been done, the Republicans would have shouldered most of the blame for this and paid for it at the polls. Then, with those people gone, you'd be able to pass the tax cut with a fair tax on millionaires.
Instead, you chickened-out. Again. If your base doesn't turn out come November, this is why.
OK, so how are we supposed to pay for it – we being working Americans. Not too many of us left, you know. I am all for cooperation and compromise, but it still has to make sense. Why do I suddenly feel the need for more lubricant? Is it because we are about to get the shaft again?
Well, I hope they know something we don't, and I hope the Keystone project has been ejected. Otherwise. we
have been had, again.
Once again the Dems showed their first priority to be keeping wealthy donors', and in many cases their own, taxes low. Even as a coldly cynical political calculation it made sense in today's popular climate to at least appear to fight for taxing the uberwealthy. But no, they chose once again to be seen as lacking spine or some other part of the male anatomy.
At least with the Repubs one knows exactly where one stands. The Dems pretend otherwise, but it's really all One Big Party, the Cash Party.
I think he knows that Reps will drive the car off the cliff if you play chicken with them. They are relentless, and on this stage this is sadly a compliment. Bring back democracy and negotiation!
Looking at it as a guy who is liberal on fiscal issues, I am disappointed. But looking at it as an American, this is how compromise works. If one side is truly happy, the other side gave up too much. And believe me, Republicans are not happy either.
Glad to hear this. Have any of you asked yourselves when this country came to the point that we would punish success and entrepreneurship? This class warfare has to stop. The US govt. does not have a revenue problem. IT HAS A SPENDING PROBLEM. Even if you were to tax "millionaires and billionaires" as well as the rest of us at 100% (that is take all of our money), the govt. would still run a large deficit. DOES THIS SOUND SERIOUS TO YOU? THE GOVT. HAS TO STOP GROWING LIKE THIS! The US GOVT. of today is involved in too many obligations that are not stated in the constitution. NO COUNTRY CAN MAINTAIN A $15 TRILLION (AND GROWING) DEBT LOAD. THIS IS INSANITY.
RON PAUL 2012 – SHRINK THE SIZE OF GOVT. INT\STILL FREEDOM< SELF-RELIANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY
Our Congress will not stand for taxes on the rich, because they would be taxing themselves. These people may not have come to Washington wealthy, but they leave multi millionaires. While this is going on, the poor and middle classes are being wiped out. Voters will have to do the same as the 2008 election, you have to decide the which is the lesser of 2 evils. We're shafted any way we go.
gutless.. just like getting ride of the bush tax cuts... gutless....obama is spinless....
@ Four and The Door
"Very good decision by the Democrats. And very good work by the Republicans in congress for holding your ground on this one. I still don't agree with the idea of de-funding Social Security just because it is a convenient way to make nice with a huge majority of voters leading into an election year."
----------------------------------------------
In the class war are the wealthy just won another battle. The President yet again gave-in without taking this to the mat. I would have allowed the tax exemption to expire ratheer than let the Republicans continue to fight for their sugar daddies. To Four and The Door... you are eitheer very wealthy and protecting your tremendous fortune or you're just another person brainwashed by the lies of the right-wing media. This isn't about Social Security. Republicans would trash Social Security in a heartbeat if those of us who get a check weren't reliable voters. This is about bigotry, obstructionism, and failure to take responsibility for the destruction of our economy during the Bush administration. You did it. You fought against fixing it. You are not a patriotic American.
Cannot vote for a person that does not have a spine.
I understand now, why GOD had to get me to see what I see now. Because if god do not open your eyes,
you will be asking "' Why Are You Hurting So Many People "'. Now I know why GOD is going to hurt so many people.
And I said GOD, not me. The power he is going to us, I do not have. But if I did, I would stop this world from turning.
Obama is better than the alternatives. Stay with him until someone better emerges. It took 30 years to get us into this mess. It will take more than one election to get us out. Stand for your beliefs. Go to the polls. Vote Obama in. Vote Republicans out. Show our strength and Democrats will learn to stand up on their hind legs.
What did you expect them to do? If they don't compromise, Republicans blame Dems for holding up legislation. If they do compromise to get something passed, then Dems turn against them because they've "given up". It's between a rock and a hard place. Vote in Dems and get rid of all this useless garbage. As the Speaker, Boehner has done NOTHING to create jobs. Yah....way to go Congress.
Democrats who do not bother to go to the polls are caving in just as the party has caved in to Republican obstructionism. We have to be stronger than that.
It took 30 years to get us into this mess. It will take more than one election to get us out. Go and vote.
Being a college professor does not necessarily make one a good president. It only assumes the fact one might have some level of intelligence. Obama has failed. Mrs clinton has succeed. He has now proven that his policy of taxing the rich was only a political gimmick; that It did not make economic sense. So the republicans had to be right on the economy and obama wrong. So why did he waste so much political capital on this idea only to change at this late hour- is it because he doesn't know how to get us out of the economic mess we are in. He put up this smoke screen as he dithered knowing full well it had all to do with politics and nothing to do with economics; which he does not understand. Persons are meeting it hard so if I could get them to blame the rich then they will over look my failure and so give me a second term. Now even that has gone out the door. Obama was not ready for washington. But newt has been there and knows how to get it working again. Newt 2012.
The Dems just want us to get used to paying for Social Security through income taxes. It's a backdoor way to redistribute wealth since Social Security is a flat tax that strongly favors the poor in the way that retirement checks are calculated, whereas the poor and lower middle class pay no income taxes.
Obama and the Dems cave in again. I thought they finally found their collective backbone. Guess I was wrong. The party of the 1% wins again.
Obama and the Dems give in again. I thought they had finally found their collective backbone. Guess I was wrong. The party of the 1% wins again.
All I see are well groomed marionettes in the most terrible spectacle of "contemporary democracy" (if you can call it a democracy anymore). Honestly, I hope the end of the world actually does come. Screw all of this.
Cave! I can't wait for Obama to get his pants handed to him in the election next year. The man made all sorts of promises and not one of them has come true. Close Gitmo.. Ha. Show me the money and unemployment won't go above 8 percent. Nothing that has happened in the last three years has been his fault... its ATMs, the internet, Republicans, Bush, earthquakes, tsunamis, the list goes on. The man is incapable of admitting that he has made any mistakes at all. This is the difference between one who has the wit, intelligence, and ability to lead and one who is just a mouthpiece for the liberal destruction of our country. The longer the dems are in power, or given a soap box to stand on, the more permanently unemployed people we will have. The only fair thing to do is let big businesses fail, stop extending unemployement, get rid of burdensome regulation, and make the 47% of american who don't pay federal income tax start paying something!!!!
Well,Well,Well. The democratic clowns realize that their beloved messiah is LOSING in the polls.....The democratic Reps are running scared.
Here we go again, the lobbyists are gaining control through the Republicans. The economy is bound to tank again as it did under President Bush.
Every time I look at what the republicans are offering, I say to myself, I will have to vote for Obama. He then kicks me in the shins again with something like this. The election better come soon or I will not be able to walk to the polls.
In return for what? Why do we keep negotiating with ourselves? Let them raise payroll taxes on us all rather than tax a few billionaires, and we'll see which party the voters prefer.
I understand your fustration, It pisses me off. But I understand Obamas' position, should I let millions of families loose this much need break. Especially in this economy. or do I play with people's livelyhood. I think if he "Obama" he the other position. We could all just consider him an Republican, because thats who they are...
Once again, the Dems give in to the GOP's ransom demands and the American people pay for it!
Hmm... So should the next election go to Democratic Republicans or Republican Republicans? I guess the difference is that one of these groups always gets their way, while the other always gives them their way. Smooth...
Harry Reid's Senate counter-offer coming tomorrow is going to be quite laughable! I'll bet a dollar to a donut that his Democrat-controlled Senate will recommend a Liberal plan that will ADD to our 15 Trillion Dollar debt! They just can't help themselves without raising taxes on somebody. God knows it's impossible for a Liberal Democrap to CUT SPENDING! Give us a break Harry! You're a pitiful little weasel and we can read right through you!
I become more embarrassed everyday to say I'm a Democrat. Check that- the progressives in Congress and the President should be ashamed to say they are.
How many more times are they going to buckle to these greedy, fat cats?
President 1% Has Returned.
The great caver! We (all americans) need someone to vote for president. The republican clowns, and the spinx, will never get my vote.
Put them all in diapers. They are all full of it.
This is the only reason Obama’s approval ratings are below 50%
Sucks that the dems have to cave in, but it really is the only political move that makes sense. First they make the GOP look like the corporate shills they are by refusing to even touch the super-wealthy, and then make a compromise to get the middle class the tax break that the GOP are screwing up.
Four and The Door
Very good decision by the Democrats. And very good work by the Republicans in congress for holding your ground on this one. I still don't agree with the idea of de-funding Social Security just because it is a convenient way to make nice with a huge majority of voters leading into an election year.
Four and The Door – you got it backwards. Dems where adding the surtax to the Millionaires so it wouldn't defund Social Security. If I remember correctly it was .7% tax increase. But now it will defund the SS fund unless the republicans figured out some other way to pay for it that I'm on aware of.
This kind of concession is typical of Dems, and the result par for the course for Congress over the past 30 years: GOP advocates for the rich and for corporations, and does so relentlessly and stubbornly. Dems only pretend to advocate for the poor and middle classes, but fold like a sheet of origami paper. The outcome has been a steady move towards plutocracy, and it shows no sign of letting up.
I am an Obama supporter, but come on stop capitulating to the other side, this is what they want. Stay firm and you will see a dramatic upswing in support. Right now though people think you and Dems are too soft, prove us wrong.
Wondering if this is part of an heretofore unmentioned "deal" to strip out Keystone XL all together. . . the whole thing stinks. Why does State Dept get a say in this anyway? Maybe if they agree to cover the thing in solar cells. . . .
I say we let the tax cut go if the GOP can't bother to see that putting the tax surcharge on millionaires is needed to maintain the amount going into the Social Security fund. If we can't get the GOP to compromise here than we have lost the country to Grover Norquist (give Grovers everywhere a bad name).
DEMS DEMS please drop your pants and bend over, I heard over the radio the republican lord Grover Norquist is on the way!!
That's it. I have had it with Obama who cannot stand his ground and lets the GOP walk all over him, from tax cuts for the rich to cutting back on environmental regulations. Is he a Democrat or Republican?
How's that hopey changey thing working out for ya? LOL
Not a good move, Mr. President!
Obama has no guts, should have stood his ground on this. If he can't hold firm on a winning issue for the Democrats, he is a pushover and deserves the reaming he'll get next year.
Well this is dumb. Wish our Dems would stop caving in so easy! :/
I don't know the particulars. I don't know the particulars. I don't know the particulars......:(
What is Obama thinking? Everytime he has an opportunity to force the Republicans into a compromise, he gives in and gives them exactly what they wanted. This really pi$$es me off, to the highest pissivity. Obama is making it harder and harder to vote for him next time around,