White House shoots down House Republican proposal on fiscal cliff

Nice try, but no go, Boehner. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer issued this statement via e-mail in response to the proposal from House Republican leadership.

'The Republican letter released today does not meet the test of balance. In fact, it actually promises to lower rates for the wealthy and sticks the middle class with the bill. Their plan includes nothing new and provides no details on which deductions they would eliminate, which loopholes they will close or which Medicare savings they would achieve. Independent analysts who have looked at plans like this one have concluded that middle class taxes will have to go up to pay for lower rates for millionaires and billionaires. While the President is willing to compromise to get a significant, balanced deal and believes that compromise is readily available to Congress, he is not willing to compromise on the principles of fairness and balance that include asking the wealthiest to pay higher rates. President Obama believes'and the American people agree'that the economy works best when it is grown from the middle out, not from the top down. Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won't be able to achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit our nation needs.'

In other words, bogus tax "reform" that actually cuts tax rates for the wealthy isn't going to fly.

And this just happened, too.

Bowles disavows 2011 proposal after Boehner offers it to White House. Bowles says "circumstances have changed" since he offered it in '11
' @damianpaletta via web

The proposal floated by Boehner & Co. was based on some ideas Erskine Bowles had given the Super Congress last year. He's not going to be providing them any cover now.

2:17 PM PT: Bowles's full statement, via e-mail:

While I'm flattered the Speaker would call something "the Bowles plan," the approach outlined in the letter Speaker Boehner sent to the President does not represent the Simpson-Bowles plan, nor is it the Bowles plan.  In my testimony before the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, I simply took the mid-point of the public offers put forward during the negotiations to demonstrate where I thought a deal could be reached at that time.

The Joint Select Committee failed to reach a deal, and circumstances have changed since then. It is up to negotiators to figure out where the middle ground is today.  Every offer put forward brings us closer to a deal, but to reach an agreement, it will be necessary for both sides to move beyond their opening positions and reach agreement on a comprehensive plan which avoids the fiscal cliff and puts the debt on a clear downward path relative to the economy.