i m ashleigh banfield. good to have ali here all week. in the battle over the bush-era tax cuts, playing politics with your takehome pay and nothing hort of the presidency is on the line here. if the two parties can t agree on extending those tax cuts by the end of the year, a typical american family making $70,000 a year could get hit with a tax increase of $3,000. that is a lot of pain. right now house republicans are busy crafting a plan to extend those tax cuts for everyone across the board rich, poor and everything in between. this is a plan that cannot get through the democratic-controlled senate. the president making a big push to let those tax cuts expire for the wealthiest of us americans. here s what s at stake. we ve got the bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of this year. and i feel very strongly that the middle class tax cuts, which would affect 98% of americans, should be extended further. now is not the time for a tax increase on the middle clas