WASHINGTON: Both President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress now have laid out some specifics of their vision for stepping back from the " fiscal cliff" budget crisis, but the plans are vastly different and leave politicians far from agreement with a deadline less than a month away.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's counteroffer - which cuts popular social programs but doesn't raise taxes on the wealthy - was immediately rejected by the White House, which declared the Republicans still weren't ready to "get serious."
At issue are expiration of big tax cuts instituted under the administration of former President George W. Bush and a series of big spending reductions mandated by Congress last year to force the nation's political leaders to finally reach a painful agreement on reducing the country's spiraling deficit.
But in the current climate deal making seems nearly extinct and some economists forecast that failure to reach an agreement by year's end will send the fragile US economy back into recession and cause a spike in already stubbornly high unemployment.
The Republican proposal that Boehner sent to the White House on Monday calls for raising the eligibility age for the government health care program for Americans at age 65 and lowering cost-of-living hikes for the federal pension program.
Obama's plan, offered last week, would raise taxes by $1.6 trillion on high income Americans over the coming decade but largely exempt health care and pensions programs from budget cuts.
Boehner and other Republicans said they were proposing a "reasonable solution" for negotiations that Boehner says have been going nowhere.
The House speaker said he hoped the administration would "respond in a timely and responsible way." Though the Republican plan proposes to raise $800 billion in higher tax revenue over the same 10 years, it would keep the Bush tax cuts - including those for wealthier earners targeted by Obama - in place for now.
Dismissing the idea of raising any tax rates, the Republicans said the new revenue would come from closing loopholes and deductions while lowering rates.
The White House complained the latest offer was still short on details about what loopholes would be closed or deductions eliminated, and it insisted that any compromise include higher tax rates for upper-income earners.
Asked directly whether the country would go over the cliff unless Republican lawmakers backed down, administration officials said yes, though they said they still hoped that could be avoided.
Obama continues to believe that going over the cliff would be damaging to the economy, and they signaled that Obama wouldn't insist on bringing the top tax rate all the way back to the 39.6 per cent rates of the Clinton era.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal White House deliberations.
indiatimes.com
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's counteroffer - which cuts popular social programs but doesn't raise taxes on the wealthy - was immediately rejected by the White House, which declared the Republicans still weren't ready to "get serious."
At issue are expiration of big tax cuts instituted under the administration of former President George W. Bush and a series of big spending reductions mandated by Congress last year to force the nation's political leaders to finally reach a painful agreement on reducing the country's spiraling deficit.
But in the current climate deal making seems nearly extinct and some economists forecast that failure to reach an agreement by year's end will send the fragile US economy back into recession and cause a spike in already stubbornly high unemployment.
The Republican proposal that Boehner sent to the White House on Monday calls for raising the eligibility age for the government health care program for Americans at age 65 and lowering cost-of-living hikes for the federal pension program.
Obama's plan, offered last week, would raise taxes by $1.6 trillion on high income Americans over the coming decade but largely exempt health care and pensions programs from budget cuts.
Boehner and other Republicans said they were proposing a "reasonable solution" for negotiations that Boehner says have been going nowhere.
The House speaker said he hoped the administration would "respond in a timely and responsible way." Though the Republican plan proposes to raise $800 billion in higher tax revenue over the same 10 years, it would keep the Bush tax cuts - including those for wealthier earners targeted by Obama - in place for now.
Dismissing the idea of raising any tax rates, the Republicans said the new revenue would come from closing loopholes and deductions while lowering rates.
The White House complained the latest offer was still short on details about what loopholes would be closed or deductions eliminated, and it insisted that any compromise include higher tax rates for upper-income earners.
Asked directly whether the country would go over the cliff unless Republican lawmakers backed down, administration officials said yes, though they said they still hoped that could be avoided.
Obama continues to believe that going over the cliff would be damaging to the economy, and they signaled that Obama wouldn't insist on bringing the top tax rate all the way back to the 39.6 per cent rates of the Clinton era.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal White House deliberations.
indiatimes.com
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