Boehner's Fiscal Cliff Plan B

House Speaker John Boehner has moved to what he calls Plan B. The Speaker, an Ohio Republican, presented to the Republican-controlled House on Thursday a bill that would raise taxes on people earning over $1 million a year as hopes faded for a pre-Christmas deal between President Barack Obama and the Speaker to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff." Democratic leaders vowed that the House bill will die in the Senate without a vote. As a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff's automatic tax hikes and spending cuts seemed elusive, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid said lawmakers would return to the Capitol after the holiday to try to forge a deal. But at the same time, Boehner told reporters that it is the responsibility of the President and himself to negotiate a deal and he said he would continue trying, saying, "I expect that we'll continue to work together." House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the GOP has enough votes to pass Plan B, aimed at increasing the year-end pressure on Capitol Hill Democrats and Obama. Boehner won a letter of support from anti-tax activist Grover Norquist during the day. Norquist's organization, Americans For Tax Reform, issued a statement saying it will not consider a vote for the Plan B bill a violation of a no-tax-increase pledge that many Republicans have signed. Norquist's support for Boehner may signal that the GOP and its tea partiers are closing ranks to try to turn the fiscal impasse to the GOP's favor. While the GOP is moving forward with a plan that all Republicans can accept, even if they are not overly enthusiastic, the President and the Democrat-majority Senate are standing pat, caught in the President's continuing refusal to negotiate the GOP's issues. The White House has said the President will veto any House bill, in the unlikely event that it passes the Senate. A presidential spokesman said that the Republicans have wasted the opportunity to negotiate what could be a large deal for the American people, instead "...the Republicans in the House have decided to run down an alley that has no exit while we all watch....again it's something we've seen in the past." Republicans have reportedly told senior administration officials that Boehner put forward Plan B after he concluded he could not get enough GOP support for the proposal he made to Obama over the weekend. The President says that he and Boehner are just a few hundred billion dollars apart on a 10-year, $2 trillion-plus deficit-cutting pact. In what could be considered a disrespectful reference to the Sandy Hook school murders, the President said Republicans should "peel off the partisan war paint" and take the deal he's offering. He noted that he had won re-election with a call for higher taxes on the wealthy, then added pointedly that the nation aches for conciliation, not a contest of ideologies, after last week's mass murder at the Connecticut elementary school. This, dear readers, is what one might call a non sequitur...something that does not logically follow on from what was already said. In this case, the murdered school children and the fiscal cliff have absolutely nothing in common and the President mentioned Sandy Hook simply to try to transfer America's sympathy to his fiscal position. Meanwhile, Boehner will introduce a second bill in the House that would put aside the economically dangerous set of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies set to take effect in January. Boehner, taking the offensive in his battle with Obama, said that the President will bear responsibility for "the largest tax increase in history" if he makes good on his veto threat. Obama has changed his position somewhat and is now seeking $1.2 trillion in higher tax revenue, down from the $1.6 trillion he initially sought. He also has softened his demand for higher tax rates on household incomes so they would apply to incomes over $400,000 instead of the $250,000 he cited during his successful second-term presidential campaign. But Obama has thrown down yet another gauntlet, saying he will not negotiate over the national debt ceiling limit coming up in March, in an effort to force the GOP to settle the fiscal deal now and not try to tie the fiscal cliff fight to the debt ceiling fight. I hope, dear readers, that the President soon realizes that a flat fiat refusal is not a negotiating position or tactic. It is the absolute absense of the spirit of American political negotiation and compromise.