Boehner pushes fiscal cliff ?Plan B? as automatic tax hikes loom

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) arrives for a Republican caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Dec. 18, 2012.??With less than two weeks to prevent automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, Republican House Speaker John Boehner has decided to press ahead with an alternative to "fiscal cliff" negotiations with the White House?a bill that would raise taxes on income over $1 million.

The move also includes $1 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, according to a source familiar with the plan. Boehner was to present it to fellow House Republicans behind closed doors Tuesday after describing it to President Barack Obama in a late-Monday telephone call.

The source, who requested anonymity, emphasized that the Speaker was not backing out of negotiations with Obama, who laid out his latest offer on Monday for avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff. Experts have warned that going off the cliff could plunge the fragile economy into a new recession.

"The Speaker will continute to work with the president on a broader agreement as he told the president last night in a phone call, but with time running short the House will act as a precautionary measure to ensure taxes don't rise for most Americans on January 1," the source said.

Any kind of tax hike could be hard to sell to House Republicans. "I'm a don't-raise-any-taxes kind of girl," Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn said as she walked into Tuesday's meeting.

Boehner planned to argue to his fractious rank-and-file that a stalemate with the White House would be far worse: Under current law, failure to act will trigger across-the-board income tax hikes as well as deep cuts to defense spending.

"The question for us is real simple: How do we stop as many of those rate hikes as possible?" Boehner planned to tell House Republicans. "In the absence of an alternative, as of this morning, a 'modified Plan B' is the plan."

Boehner also said he would emphasize that "we're leaving the door wide open for something better. Plan B is Plan B for a reason.?It's a less-than-ideal outcome.?I've always believed we can do better."

Boehner also hoped to "lock in" plans to overhaul the tax code and cut entitlement spending in 2013.

But with no sign that the Democratic-held Senate would sign on to his "Plan B," the move appeared to be a largely cosmetic effort to make a final compromise easier to swallow for House Republicans.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/boehner-pushes-fiscal-cliff-plan-b-145341291--politics.html

flight attendant pau gasol trade michael madsen spring forward day light savings day light savings daylight saving time 2012