Tag: President Barack Obama

Senator Reid rejects Boehner "fiscal cliff" backup plan

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Reid speaks to reporters in the Capitol in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) – House Speaker John Boehner's backup plan that would simply extend low income tax rates for households with incomes below $1 million a year "cannot pass both houses of Congress," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday. Reid, a Democrat, said Boehner instead should focus on reaching a broad deficit-reduction deal with President Barack Obama. "Now is the time to show leadership, not kick the can down the road," Reid said. …

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Boehner: Congress will never give up debt limit control

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner said on Thursday there was “zero chance” that Congress would give up its control over raising the federal debt limit. In a news conference in which he expressed frustration that President Barack Obama has not met his demands for deeper spending cuts, Boehner dismissed any notions that Republicans would agree to Obama’s request for permanent authority to increase borrowing. “Congress is never going to give up our ability to control the purse,” Boehner said. …

Obama backers turn from re-election to "fiscal cliff" fight

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Supporters of U.S. President Obama cheer during his election night rally in ChicagoWASHINGTON (Reuters) – After a year of knocking on doors and working the phones to get President Barack Obama re-elected, Meechie Biggers had gotten over her fear of talking politics with strangers. So when she came to Washington last week, the small-town real estate agent and a few like-minded Tennesseeans paid a visit to one of their Republican senators, Bob Corker, to try to persuade him to back Obama's proposal to raise tax rates for the wealthy. Biggers didn't think she had much of a chance of changing his mind, and perhaps she didn't. …

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Serious differences remain as US "fiscal cliff," talks drag on

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U.S. House Speaker Boehner speaks to the media outside his office on Capitol Hill in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sharp differences remained on Wednesday between congressional Republicans and the White House in talks to avert the "fiscal cliff" of steep tax hikes and budget cuts, and negotiators warned the showdown could drag on past Christmas. Both sides refused to give any ground in public, one day after what U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner described as a "frank" conversation with President Barack Obama about the remaining hurdles to a deal. Boehner said Obama's latest proposal for $1. …

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Republicans reject tax hike, push cuts in "fiscal cliff" offer

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U.S. House Speaker Boehner speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans proposed steep spending cuts on Monday but gave no ground on President Barack Obama's call to raise taxes on the wealthiest in their first formal proposal to avert a "fiscal cliff" that could push the U.S. economy into recession. After days of stalemate, the Republican offer shows deep differences with President Barack Obama as the two sides work to head off across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases due to take effect in January. The White House dismissed the proposal and said it contained no new ideas. …

On Twitter, Obama puts question mark over mortgage deduction

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U.S. President Obama gestures during a news conference at the White House in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) – Taking to Twitter to press his case in "fiscal cliff" talks with Congress, President Barack Obama said on Monday that tax breaks benefiting middle class families such as the mortgage interest deduction could be at risk if rates for top earners do not rise. Obama is locked in negotiations with Congress to prevent a year-end fiscal crunch. If the administration and lawmakers fail to agree, across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts would go into effect that analysts say would tip the economy back into recession. …

House Republicans unveil new fiscal cliff offer

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Republican leaders on Monday called for $2.2 trillion in new deficit-reduction over 10 years in their latest effort to avert an end-of-year fiscal cliff. When counting deficit reductions enacted last year and anticipated savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the package would amount to $4.6 trillion in savings over a decade, according to House Republicans. House Speaker John Boehner and six other House Republican leaders made the offer in a letter to President Barack Obama. …

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More House Republicans see Obama tax hikes as part of "cliff" deal

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A small but growing number of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives believe tax hikes on the rich like those favored by President Barack Obama will be part of a final deal to resolve the so-called fiscal cliff. “I wouldn’t have a problem with letting those tax rates go up,” provided they are coupled with spending cuts, Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho told Reuters Thursday. …

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Debt limit hike must be part of fiscal cliff deal: Reid

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. debt ceiling increase must be part of any deal to resolve the looming “fiscal cliff” of tax increases and spending cuts, the top Democratic senator said on Thursday, further complicating talks to stave off the austerity measures. President Barack Obama will not sign any agreement that does not contain a debt limit hike, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. That demand was underpinned with the White House warning Republican lawmakers that the $16. …

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Factbox: U.S. President Barack Obama

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(Reuters) – As the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, 51, signed into law a revamp of the national healthcare system and authorized the raid that killed Osama bin Laden but struggled to revive the economy and create jobs. As the United States holds its presidential election on Tuesday, here are key facts about Obama, the nation’s first black president. – Barack Obama has a personal background like no other president in U.S. history. His mother, Ann Dunham, was a white woman from Kansas and his father, Barack Obama Sr. …

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