Previous Presidents re-elected to a second term took questions from the press shortly thereafter. President Obama made a statement in the East Room that looked more like a rally than a press conference, taking no questions thereafter.
The statement itself was somewhat vague. The President plans to invite leaders of both parties to the White House for negotiations beginning next week, on how to best avoid the fiscal slope (or bluff, or berm, or whatever you want to call it). But the remarks really encompassed one set of the expiring fiscal measures: the Bush-era tax rates. The sequester, the payroll tax cut, extended unemployment benefits, the doc fix, and the alternative minimum tax patch didn't come up and were referred to in only glancing ways.
On taxes, Obama called for the tax cuts on the first $250,000 of income to be extended for every American worker.
"This was a central question during the election. It was debated over and over again. On Tuesday night the majority of Americans agreed with my approach," Obama said against a backdrop of ordinary Americans standing behind him.
"I'm open to compromise. I'm open to new ideas. I'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges," Obama said. But he held the line on raising taxes on the wealthy.
"We can't just cut our way to prosperity," Obama said. "If we're serious about reducing the deficit we have to combine spending cuts with revenue and that means asking the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more in taxes."
Brad Dayspring, Eric Cantor's press aide, noted immediately that "There is certainly room for agreement between what Speaker Boehner said and President Obama said without increasing rates." Indeed, Obama never used the word "rates." He said that the rich have to pay more in taxes; that could be accomplished through capping or limiting or eliminating deductions. The rates could stay the same, or as Boehner wants, go down.
Obama focused on the need to extend the tax rates for the first $250,000 of income rather than the rates on the wealthy. "I've got the pen. I'm ready to sign the bill right away," Obama said.
Previously, the President, through aides, vowed to veto any fiscal slope actions that did not accompany an increase in those top-end tax rates. This was a substantially softer approach.
However, the backdrop of a rally-like atmosphere signals the expected barnstorming tour that would result if Republicans don't agree to de-couple the rates.
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