President Obama is open to a compromise with Republicans over a possible extension to tax cuts for wealthy Americans, he told CBS’s 60 Minutes recently in an interview that aired Sunday night.
Obama and Democrats have been strongly against extending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.
The President said in his weekly address on Saturday that “I don’t see how we can afford to borrow an additional $700 billion from other countries to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent, even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans,” adding that not letting those tax cuts expire would be “digging ourselves into an even deeper fiscal hole and passing the burden on to our children.”
Republicans, who routed the midterm elections last Tuesday and took control of the House of Representatives, have adamantly argued that tax cuts should be extended even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans for two more years.
Congressman John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is all but certain to become the next Speaker of the House, also has proposed that discretionary government spending be curtailed to 2008 pre-bailout levels, to which Obama said that there’s a “basis of conversation” for a compromise.
“I think that what that means is that…we can look at what the budget projections are. We can think about what the economy needs right now, given that it’s still weak,” Obama told 60 Minute’s Steve Kroft. “And hopefully, we can agree on a set of facts that leads to a compromise.”
Also in the interview, Obama blamed the latest electoral wave towards the GOP on a miscommunication to voters over his policies and actions, saying that the bank and auto bailouts were enacted because “we were in such a rush to get this stuff done ... because we had an emergency situation and we wanted to make sure the economy didn’t go off a cliff” and that the message was not something he effectively “[drove] home.”
President Obama, who was in the India leg of his Asia trip this weekend, also admitted that his leadership abilities have been affected by ineffective communication to Americans, saying, “Leadership [is] a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone. And making an argument that people can understand. And I think that we haven’t always been successful at that.”
Obama and Democrats have been strongly against extending tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.
The President said in his weekly address on Saturday that “I don’t see how we can afford to borrow an additional $700 billion from other countries to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent, even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans,” adding that not letting those tax cuts expire would be “digging ourselves into an even deeper fiscal hole and passing the burden on to our children.”
Republicans, who routed the midterm elections last Tuesday and took control of the House of Representatives, have adamantly argued that tax cuts should be extended even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans for two more years.
Congressman John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is all but certain to become the next Speaker of the House, also has proposed that discretionary government spending be curtailed to 2008 pre-bailout levels, to which Obama said that there’s a “basis of conversation” for a compromise.
“I think that what that means is that…we can look at what the budget projections are. We can think about what the economy needs right now, given that it’s still weak,” Obama told 60 Minute’s Steve Kroft. “And hopefully, we can agree on a set of facts that leads to a compromise.”
Also in the interview, Obama blamed the latest electoral wave towards the GOP on a miscommunication to voters over his policies and actions, saying that the bank and auto bailouts were enacted because “we were in such a rush to get this stuff done ... because we had an emergency situation and we wanted to make sure the economy didn’t go off a cliff” and that the message was not something he effectively “[drove] home.”
President Obama, who was in the India leg of his Asia trip this weekend, also admitted that his leadership abilities have been affected by ineffective communication to Americans, saying, “Leadership [is] a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone. And making an argument that people can understand. And I think that we haven’t always been successful at that.”
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