By Susan Davis and David Jackson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- President Obama called on Congress to return to
Washington next week to approve his proposal to extend tax rate for 98%
of Americans to avert the "fiscal cliff" before leaving for Hawaii
Friday evening to spend Christmas with his family.
Obama said he
spoke with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and met with Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and asked them to put together a
legislative package to extend the George W. Bush-era tax rates for those
earning $250,000 or less.
"All of us, every single one of us,
agree that tax rates shouldn't go up for the other 98% of Americans,"
Obama said, "Every member of Congress believes that."
The
president's proposal, a focal point of his reelection bid, has met with
resistance from congressional Republicans who want to extend all of the
current tax rates. Boehner tried and failed to pass a tax bill on the
strength of GOP votes alone to extend rates on earners about $1 million.
Obama's proposal will need a combination of Republican and Democratic
votes to pass a divided Congress.
Obama said he also asked
Congress to extend unemployment benefits affecting 2.1 million Americans
and he charged leaders with coming up with a package that "lays the
foundation" for economic growth and deficit reduction, suggesting
broader work to reduce spending and overhaul the tax code will have to
come in a multi-step process next year.
The president's remarks
come as House Republicans were divided on their party's strategy to
avert the "fiscal cliff" and as Boehner and Obama remain at a stalemate
on a broader deficit reduction package to avoid the year-end collision
of expiring tax rates and steep spending cuts that threaten the U.S.
economic recovery.
Obama said he would continue to work with Congress, but that the tax bill should come first. "Let's get that done," he said
Earlier
Friday, Boehner said he will continue looking for ways to resolve the
"fiscal cliff" even after fellow Republicans rejected his proposed "Plan
B."
Referring to Obama and the Democratic-run Senate, Boehner told
reporters: "Republicans don't want taxes to go up. But we only run the
House. Democrats continue to run Washington."
Internal GOP
divisions has shifted the "fiscal cliff" talks to the
Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate, where Reid also called on Boehner
Friday to take up a Senate-passed bill to extend the tax rates for those
earning $250,000 or less.
"If Republicans truly want to ensure
American families' taxes don't go up on January 1, they should simply
pass the Senate bill," Reid said on the Senate floor. The leader added
that any final deal will have to be approved by a bipartisan combination
of GOP and Democratic votes.
"No comprehensive agreement can pass
either chamber without both Democratic votes and Republican votes,"
Reid said, "Which means any solution will have to ask the most fortunate
among us to pay a little more to reduce the deficit and ensure
partisanship doesn't take the nation to the brink of default a few
months from now."
The House adjourned for the Christmas holiday.
Reid advised senators they will return Dec. 27, while House leaders told
their members they would be given 48 hours notice if they have to
return to Washington for votes.
Republican resistance to the
president's tax plan is weakening in the wake of Boehner's failure to
muster enough of his own members to support his alternative plan to
avert the cliff, and the looming reality that tax rates will rise for
everyone if Washington doesn't act. "I say take the [$250,000 proposal].
Get it done," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who won a Senate seat and
will join the upper chamber in January.
Boehner has ceded his role
in the negotiations and put the burden on the president and Reid to
find a deal that can pass. "There is no Senate bill that has been sent
to the House," Boehner said, If the Senate wanted to act on the House
tax bill from August, "we'll take a look at it," he said.
Boehner
and House Republican leaders planned to vote on his alternative plan
Thursday night, but they abruptly reversed course after it became clear
that enough Republicans opposed it, Boehner said, "because there was a
perception created that that vote last night was going to raise taxes."
He
also nodded at the partisan gridlock in Washington over addressing
taxes and spending cuts. "We see a situation where because of the
political divide in the country, because of the divide here in
Washington, trying to bridge these differences has been difficult," he
said.
The speaker said he would keep trying to work out a deal with Obama. "How we get there, God only knows."
Boehner
said he did not believe Thursday's failure would hurt his speakership.
"If you do the right thing every day for the right reasons, the right
thing will happen." The U.S. House will re-elect Boehner speaker on Jan.
3, when the next Congress convenes.