Terrific! Boehner holds the line…
(So far)
** Call John Boehner and tell him — No Obama tax hikes! — (202) 225-0600
Speaker John Boehner told reporters today there would be no tax cuts for the middle class without tax cuts for the top two percent.
The Washington Post reported:
As you know, GOP Rep. Tom Cole made waves today by urging Republicans to give in to the Dem demand that they extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone under $250,000. Cole argued this would remove the leverage Dems have and give the GOP more leverage to fight to extend the high-end tax cuts later, since Dems want the fiscal cliff averted and also want a debt ceiling hike.
Today John Boehner rejected Cole’s suggestion. But in the process, he said something pretty revealing:
“I told Tom earlier in our conference meeting that I disagreed with him,” Boehner told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference. “He’s a wonderful friend of mine and a great supporter of mine. But raising taxes on the so-called top 2 percent — half of those people are small-business owners that pay their taxes through their personal income tax filing every year. The goal here is to grow the economy and to cut spending.
“We’re not going to grow the economy if we raise tax rates on the top two rates,” the Speaker added. “It’ll hurt small businesses. It’ll hurt our economy. That’s why it’s not the right approach. We’ll willing to put revenue on the table as long as we’re not raising rates.”
More from Instapundit: ED DRISCOLL: And Now a Word from Bill Clinton on the Dangers of Raising Taxes. “The ads not only write themselves if the 2012 GOP folds as badly as Bush #41 — they’ve already been written.”