doesn t the president hold all the cards then? can t he say, all right, everybody taxes have increased. i m offering 98% a tax cut of $2,000 a year. you are the party of lower taxes. are you going to refuse to cut people s tacks? nobody wants to go over the cliff. that s why the day after the election i tried to speed this process up by making the concession to put revenues on the table. it s unfortunate that the white house has spent three weeks doing basically nothing. so you have been around this town a long time, you have been in a lot of negotiations, what is there game? what is their thinking as to how they are going to work their will? do they just figure they won, they are going to get what they want? i have no idea, chris. if i knew, i would share it with you but i don t think what they are thinking. do you think they are being bullies? i think they won the election, they must have forgotten that republicans continue to hold the majority in the house. but, you know,
everybody taxes have increased. i m offering 98% a tax cut of $2,000 a year. you are the party of lower taxes. are you going to refuse to cut people s tacks? nobody wants to go over the cliff. that s why the day after the election i tried to speed this process up by making the concession to put revenues on the table. it s unfortunate that the white house has spent three weeks doing basically nothing. so you have been around this town a long time, you have been in a lot of negotiations, what is there game? what is their thinking as to how they are going to work their will? do they just figure they won, they are going to get what they want? i have no idea, chris. if i knew, i would share it with you but i don t think what they are thinking. do you think they are being bullies? i think they won the election, they must have forgotten that republicans continue to hold the majority in the house. but, you know, the president s idea of a negotiation is roll over and do what i ask.
after your victory in the 2010 mid-terms, now it s your turn to cave on tax rates. listen, what s the difference where the money comes from? we put $800 billion worth of revenue, which is what he s asking for, out of eliminating the top two tax rates. but here s the problem, chris. when you go and increase tax rates, you make it more difficult for our economy to grow. half of that income is small business income. it s going to get taxed at a higher rate. as a result we are going to see slower economic growth. we aren t going to be able to cut our way out of this problem, nor can we just grow our way out of the problem. we have to have a balanced approach. what the president wants to do is slow our economy at a time he wants the economy to grow and create jobs. the white house says that while you have given this kind of talk about, well, let s close loopholes, let s limit deductions, you haven t offered any specifics, have you? we ve laid it all out for him
everybody taxes have increased. i m offering 98% a tax cut of $2,000 a year. you are the party of lower taxes. are you going to refuse to cut people s tacks? nobody wants to go over the cliff. that s why the day after the election i tried to speed this process up by making the concession to put revenues on the table. it s unfortunate that the white house has spent three weeks doing basically nothing. so you have been around this town a long time, you have been in a lot of negotiations, what is there game? what is their thinking as to how they are going to work their will? do they just figure they won, they are going to get what they want? i have no idea, chris. if i knew, i would share it with you but i don t think what they are thinking. do you think they are being bullies? i think they won the election, they must have forgotten that republicans continue to hold the majority in the house. but, you know, the president s idea of a negotiation is roll over and do what i ask.
further in some areas, they should lay it out to us. you say they are in a hard spot, what do you mean? they are trying to figure out how to find a way to support things that they know they are going to have to do that will be very hard for them. you ve heard them for the first time in two decades now acknowledge that they are willing to have revenues go up as part of the balanced plan. that s a it good first step but they have to tell us what they are willing to do on rates and revenues. and they have to tell us on the spending side if they want to go beyond where we are or do it differently and they have to tell us what makes sense to them. what we can t do, chris; try to figure out what works for them. the president campaigned for re-election on the idea of a, quote, balanced approach, end quote, to deficit reduction. a mixture of tax increases and spending cuts. here s the plan that the republicans say you presented to them this week. i can tell you what i presented if it w