WASHINGTON — In a sharp challenge to the GOP, President Barack Obama proposed paying for his costly new jobs plan Monday with tax hikes that Republicans have already emphatically rejected. The reception to his new proposal was no more welcoming, setting the stage for a likely new fight with Congress.
Flanked at the White House by workers he said the legislation would help, Obama declared, “This is the bill that Congress needs to pass. No games. No politics. No delays.” He sent it to Capitol Hill saying, “The only thing that’s stopping it is politics.”
The president’s proposal drew criticism from House Speaker John Boehner, who’d previously responded in cautious but somewhat receptive tones to the $447 billion jobs plan made up of tax cuts and new spending that Obama first proposed in an address to Congress last Thursday.
“It would be fair to say this tax increase on job creators is the kind of proposal both parties have opposed in the past. We remain eager to work together on ways to support job growth, but this proposal doesn’t appear to have been offered in that bipartisan spirit,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said.
The biggest piece of the payment plan would raise about $400 billion by eliminating certain deductions, including on charitable contributions, that can be claimed by wealthy taxpayers. Obama has proposed that in the past and it’s been shot down by Republican lawmakers along with some Democrats.
At a Rose Garden event Monday, Obama brandished his jobs bill and surrounded himself with police officers, firefighters, teachers, construction workers and others he said would be helped by it. Adopting a newly combative tone that’s been welcomed by dispirited Democrats, Obama demanded immediate action on the legislation, which the White House sent to Capitol Hill Monday afternoon.
The jobs package would combine tax cuts for workers and employers by reducing the Social Security payroll tax, with spending elements including more money to hire teachers, rebuild schools and pay unemployment benefits. There are also tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans and the long-term unemployed.
Republicans have indicated they’re receptive to supporting Obama’s proposed payroll tax cut and finding a way to extend unemployment benefits, though many have rejected Obama’s planned new spending. Obama’s new proposal Monday to pay for it all by raising taxes without any proposals to cut spending is unlikely to win him any new GOP support for any element of his plan.
