–Battle For Tax Cuts Likely To Focus This Fall In The Senate
–Senate Leaders Refine, Sharpen Tax Cut Talking Points
–Neither Sens. Reid or McConnell Signal Any Interest In Compromise
–Rep. Boehner: Must Prevent ‘Take Hike on All Taxing Paying Americans’

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – There are times when the leaders from both
parties seem to be genuinely interested in finding a compromise on a
contentious issue.

This fall’s debate on the fate of the Bush tax cut is not an
example of this search for common ground.

Just three days into the fall session, it is now clear that both
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell are perfectly comfortable spending the next couple of weeks
fighting over tax policy rather than searching for compromises that are
not difficult to envision.

Back-to-back briefings by Reid and McConnell Tuesday signaled
that both leaders have assembled narratives and talking points regarding
tax policy that they believe they can ride into the mid-term elections.

House Democratic leaders have said they will wait for the Senate to
go first on tax policy.

Reid said Tuesday that he expects the Senate to vote on extending
at least some of the Bush tax cuts before leaving Washington to
campaign for the mid-term elections.

Reid said he has begun talks with McConnell on a “procedure that is
“reasonable” to consider tax cuts in the Senate.

But neither Reid nor McConnell showed any interest in negotiating a
compromise or even straying beyond carefully developed talking points on
taxes.

Reid said Democrats are determined to “protect the middle class” by
extending tax cuts for individuals making up to $200,000 and couples
earning up to $250,000.

The Senate Majority Leader said Republicans are threatening to
“hold hostage” these tax cuts by insisting that all of the 2001 and 2003
tax cuts be extended, including those for the top 2% of income earners.

“Until millionaires get what they want, the middle class won’t get
what they need,” Reid said.

McConnell was equally disciplined in repeating his tax-cut talking
points. Democrats, McConnell warned, are determined to “raise taxes in
the middle of a recession.”

“We ought not raise taxes on anyone in the middle of a recession,”
he said.

The Senate Republican leader said that the central problem facing
U.S. fiscal policy is too much spending. “We have a spending problem. We
spend too much,” McConnell said.

The Obama administration and congressional Democrats have
repeatedly said that tax cuts for individuals making up to $200,000 and
couples earning up to $250,000 should be extended.

Congressional Republican leaders have supported extending all of
the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, who briefly strayed from the
GOP tax cut line in a Sunday TV interview, has returned to the fold with
a vengeance.

In a letter this week to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Boehner said
Republicans want to “cut spending and freeze the tax code for two years
to give our economy a chance to get back to creating jobs.”

On Sunday, Boehner said he would be open to voting for the tax cut
package that Obama is pushing, but only if it was the “only option.”

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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