I really like this! No pre-negotation concessions. Starting with his proposed budget.
President Obama will begin talks with congressional leaders Friday with a plan to raise $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue from the wealthy — making clear that, at least the outset, a wide gulf remains between congressional Republicans and the White House on the most contentious point in the negotiations.
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Rather, Obama will present his 2013 budget as his starting point — a plan that sought to reduce borrowing over the next 10 years by $4 trillion.
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Obama’s previous proposal called for raising $1.6 trillion in new taxes on the wealthy by allowing tax rates to increase, imposing a new special tax on millionaires and limiting deductions for the wealthy. He also proposed $340 billion in health-care and entitlement savings, continuing $1.1 trillion in spending cuts already passed into law and generating another $1 trillion in savings through the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The demand for $1.6 trillion in new taxes is far greater than Obama proposed in negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in summer 2011. At the time, Obama wavered between $800 billion and $1.2 trillion in new tax revenue, depending on how much in entitlement cuts Republicans were demanding.
WaPo: Obama to open fiscal talks with plan to raise taxes on wealthy
Elections have consequences, Mr. Boehner. And the Bush tax cuts will expire at the end of the year. The leverage is ours and the President is strong.