Obama: We can get it done

Before Hawaii trip, he urges at least a minimal ‘cliff’ deal

“I offered to compromise with Republicans in Congress,” President Barack Obama said Friday. “I met them halfway on taxes, and I met them more than halfway on spending.”
“I offered to compromise with Republicans in Congress,” President Barack Obama said Friday. “I met them halfway on taxes, and I met them more than halfway on spending.”

— President Barack Obama said Friday that he still believes that Congress can pass a deal to avert the approaching “fiscal cliff,” and he urged both parties to craft at least a minimal package he can sign into law before Jan. 1.

Appearing in the White House briefing room after a day of recriminations over failure to reach a deal, Obama said, “As of today, I am still ready and willing to get a comprehensive package done.” He said he remains committed to the goal of reducing the deficit, whether it is done “all at once” or in separate steps.

But with time running out, Obama called on Congress to work on at least a package that prevents tax rates from rising on 98 percent of Americans, protects unemployment insurance and “lays the groundwork for deficit reduction.” He said he has asked congressional leaders to come up with a plan to be voted on next week and that he can sign into law by yearend.

“That is an achievable goal that could be done in 10 days,” Obama said. “Call me a hopeless optimist, but I actually still think we can get it done,” he added later. “Because we didn’t get this done, I will see you next week.”

“Nobody gets 100 percent of what they want,” Obama said, implicitly acknowledging that a grand bargain that reduces the deficit is unlikely to be forged in the next 10 days. “This is not simply a contest of parties between who looks good and who doesn’t.”

Obama said he hoped the time off for Christmas would give lawmakers cooler heads.

“I offered to compromise with Republicans in Congress,” he said. “I met them halfway on taxes, and I met them more than halfway on spending.” Obama said he was also hoping that congressional leaders would come up with a plan to achieve a larger amount of deficit reduction next year.

The White House later announced that Obama and the first family would depart for Hawaii on Friday evening. It said he does not have any public events scheduled there and made no mention of when he would return.

Before he spoke, Obama met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at the White House, and he talked on the phone with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Earlier Friday, Boehner sought to shift responsibility to Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate to reach an agreement to avert a series of spending cuts and tax increases, after his fellow Republicans delivered a rebuke to Boehner’s own plan to raise taxes on those making more than $1 million.

In a morning news conference about 14 hours after he abruptly canceled a vote on his proposal, known as “Plan B,” Boehner vowed to continue negotiating with the White House to avert the fiscal cliff. He said his plan failed because many of his fellow Republicans simply did not want to be perceived to be raising any taxes.

Boehner said he continues to favor a grand bargain with the president that would set the stage for a dramatic overhaul of the tax code and significant changes in federal entitlement programs.

“How we get there, God only knows,” he said.

But Boehner noted that the House has already passed a bill embodying the Republican position that all Americans should be spared a tax increase in January. He said it was now the Senate’s turn to act.

“I don’t want taxes to go up; Republicans don’t want taxes to go up,” Boehner said. “But we only run the House. Democrats continue to run Washington.”

Asked what went wrong with Plan B, Boehner said: “We had a number of our members who just really didn’t want to be perceived as having raised taxes. That was the real issue.”

The speaker stood before the microphones Friday with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., a sign that the House GOP leadership team remains intact and united behind reaching a deal.

Pressed on whether he should be concerned about his losing his leadership of the House, Boehner said: “No, I am not.

“I have told my colleagues this: If you do the right things every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen,” Boehner said. “And while we may have not been able to get the votes last night to avert 99.81 percent of the tax increases, I don’t think — they weren’t taking that out on me. They were dealing with the perception that somebody might accuse them of raising taxes.”

Boehner also made clear that they will call back their colleagues with 48 hours notice if a deal is imminent.

“We’re prepared to come back if needed,” he said.

The House’s inability to act left efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff in shambles just as senior lawmakers were either heading home for the holidays or getting on planes to Hawaii for the Sunday burial of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who died Monday. On Friday morning, with Inouye’s memorial service under way at the National Cathedral, the halls of the Capitol were largely deserted.

Once the Senate returned, Reid wasted no time lambasting House Republicans for Thursday’s turn of events.

“It’s too bad Speaker Boehner wasted a week on this futile political stunt — and that’s all we can call it,” the majority leader said. “But at least House Republicans have gotten the message loud and clear: A comprehensive solution to the looming fiscal cliff will need to be a bipartisan solution. No comprehensive agreement can pass either chamber without Democratic and Republican votes.

“Instead of making hard choices and compromising, as President Obama has been willing to do, the speaker retreated to his corner and resorted to political stunts,” Reid said later. “But that stunt fell flat. It’s time for the speaker and all Republicans to return to the negotiating table. We’ve never left.”

Reid once again called on Boehner to hold a vote on a Senate-passed measure that would raise taxes on families earning more than $250,000 annually — a part of Obama’s original postelection proposal to Republicans.

When he rose to respond, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., provided political cover for Boehner by placing the future of negotiations squarely on Obama.

“This isn’t John Boehner’s problem to solve. He’s done his part. He’s bent over backwards,” McConnell said. “Mr. President, how about rallying your party around a solution? How about getting Democrats to support something?”

As a solution, McConnell urged the Senate to hold a vote on a Republican-passed House bill that would extend George W. Bush-era tax rates for another year. Because the Senate cannot constitutionally initiate legislation that affects taxes, Boehner also has urged Reid to take up the measure. But because of that measure’s structure, conservatives and liberals opposed to the bill — or to any proposals to amend it — would have numerous opportunities to mount a filibuster. That would force Reid to muster 60 votes to proceed. On Thursday, McConnell urged Reid to take up the bill, permit amendments and quickly return it to the House.

“It’s called legislating; that’s what we used to do in Congress,” McConnell said. “Democrats may be popping champagne corks today about bringing down Plan B, but all their effort to do so yesterday won’t protect a single taxpayer from a massive tax hike in just a few weeks.”

As McConnell spoke, Reid sat in his seat across from him looking over his BlackBerry, smiling and chuckling with a senior policy staff member as they made notes on how to respond. When he rose, he appeared to suppress laughter.

“My friend is struggling to find a way to blame Democrats,” Reid said, pointing at McConnell.

“I like John Boehner, but gee whiz, I mean this is a pretty big political battering he’s taken. What he should do is allow a vote in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan bill. It will pass: Democrats will vote for it; some Republicans will vote for it. That’s what we’re supposed to do. But he’s trying to pass everything with that majority that he has that can’t agree on anything among themselves. Bring in the Democrats.”

Aides said Boehner was planning to stay in Washington at least until the end of the day. But one senior aide said it was up to Obama to call the speaker, adding that Obama knows Boehner’s number. “He’s got an iPhone,” the aide said. “It quacks like a duck.”

Boehner abruptly shuttered the House for the holidays Thursday night after failing to win support from his fellow Republicans for his proposal.

White House press secretary Jay Carney vowed Thursday night that Obama would act but offered no clear path through the political minefield.

“The president’s main priority is to ensure that taxes don’t go up on 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses in just a few short days,” Carney said in a statement after Boehner called off the House vote on Plan B. “The President will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy.”

Information for this article was contributed by William Branigin, Paul Kane, Rosalind S. Helderman, Felicia Sonmez and Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/22/2012

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