◼ Republican congressional leaders, in their battle to extend the current low tax rates for all Americans, drive home Tuesday their argument that ending those rates for families earning more than $250,000 a year would produce only enough money to run the government for less than nine days. - FOX
“Eight days only,” Price continued Tuesday. “It's not a real solution. I’m puzzled by an administration that seems to be more interested in raising tack rates than in gaining economic vitality.”
The theory that the cuts would run the federal government for less than nine days is based on the daily operating cost being $9.69 billion – which would mean the $82.3 billion in cuts would cover only that period.
The president has a goal of cutting $4.4 trillion from the budget over the next 10 years.
Republicans over the past few days have agreed that additional revenue is needed to check the deficit, which has consistently topped $1 trillion in recent years. But they also criticize Democrats for not saying which specific cuts they will agree to.
“Republicans understand that we must avert the fiscal cliff and have laid out a framework to do so that is consistent with the ‘balanced’ approach the president says he wants,” Mike Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said Tuesday. “In contrast, Democrats in Congress have downplayed the danger of going over the cliff and continue to rule out sensible spending cuts that must be part of any significant agreement to reduce the deficit.”
