Obama Team Weighing
"Hundreds Of Billions" In New Business Tax Cuts
The Washington
Post 
is reporting this
morning that "the White House is seriously weighing a package of business tax
breaks -- potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars -- to spur hiring
and combat Republican charges that Democratic tax policies hurt small
businesses." Among the options "under consideration are a temporary payroll-tax
holiday and a permanent extension of the now-expired research-and-development
tax credit."
Politico similarly reports
that the Administration "is mulling a raft of emergency fixes to stimulate the
economy before the midterms, including an extension of the research and
development tax credit and new infrastructure spending, according to several
people familiar with the situation." Administration officials have been
huddling almost continuously during the past week, brainstorming for ideas that
would boost employment without hiking the massive federal deficit – with
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner rushing to the West Wing for further
consultations late Thursday."
The
Hill's Ian Swanson also says
that "Obama, under pressure to bolster the sluggish economy with only two months
before the mid-term election, is working on new business tax breaks to provide a
jolt to the sluggish economy." AFP , meanwhile, reports
that "the White House Thursday ruled out an 'extraordinary' new economic
stimulus plan to fire up the slowing recovery, but said...Obama was scouting new
ideas to boost jobs and growth."
Hill Democrats Less Likely To Let Bush Tax Cuts For
Wealthy Expire
The AP reports, "Worried
about the fragile economy and their own upcoming elections, a growing number of
Democrats are joining the rock-solid Republican opposition to...Obama's plans to
let some of the Bush administration's tax cuts expire." While Democratic
leaders "in Congress still back Obama...the willingness to raise taxes is waning
among the rank and file as the stagnant economy threatens the party's majority
in the House and Senate."
The Washington
Times runs a similar story
under the headline "Obama Loses Backing On Taxes." "Defying...Obama," says the
Times, "Congress seems increasingly reluctant to let taxes go up, even on
wealthier Americans."
Steven
Pearlstein, meanwhile, writes in the Washington
Post , says, "If
Republicans follow through on their threat...to block a vote on...Obama's
proposal to extend" only middle-class tax cuts, "the Bush tax cuts will
automatically expire for everyone. At that point, Republicans will have a heap
of explaining to do."
Trumka: Obama Shouldn't Have Combined Jobs, Deficit
Message
The
Hill's Kevin Bogardus
reports in a blog entry that at the breakfast with reporters sponsored by the
Christian Science Monitor, the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka said "Obama's talk about
the federal deficit has muddled his message on job creation." Obama, said
Trumka, "has not 'effectively communicated his work on reducing
unemployment."
The Christian
Science Monitor reports that Trumka
also said "Democrats will defy convention wisdom and keep control of both the
Senate and House in November's midterm elections," but "if he is wrong and
Republicans win control just of the House, 'that means that any chance of
progress will be ended."
