House Speaker John Boehner has released the following statement, which gives an indication of where budget talks are now:
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Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes. I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase.
The Obama administration apparently views the killing of the golden goose via tax hikes as its Holy Grail, or Sacred Cow, or whatever ridiculous metaphor you’d like to mix in. This despite the fact that hikes in the tax rate will do very little to improve the fiscal situation and quite a bit to harm a struggling economy.
So as a result, a short-term deal is all we will get. If yesterday’s unemployment numbers are to be taken seriously, a small deal may be all that’s needed anyway, as President Obama might not be in office long enough for anything else.
