In Fiscal Cliff Talks, Boehner Gives on Some Higher Rates in Exchange for Entitlement Cuts - East Idaho News
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In Fiscal Cliff Talks, Boehner Gives on Some Higher Rates in Exchange for Entitlement Cuts

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GETTY P 071111 ObamaBoehnerDebtMeetingJPG?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1355688237659MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Sources familiar with negotiations say that in a phone call on Friday afternoon House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered President Obama a deal including letting tax rates expire for those who make over $1 million a year, contingent upon significant entitlement spending cuts and reforms.

One specific example would be savings achieved by slowing the growth of Social Security.

Essentially Boehner offered $1 trillion in revenue over ten years, and somewhere between $1 trillion and $1.2 trillion in spending cuts.

The sources report that President Obama didn’t reject the offer per se though he expressed serious concerns about some of the aspects of the proposal.

Conversations remain ongoing; participants are encouraged that progress is being made.

Though all of the lower Bush-era tax rates are set to expire at the end of 2012, Boehner will take some heat from conservatives for giving on tax rates on millionaires. On the other hand, many House and Senate Republicans now seem willing to fold and allow higher tax rates to kick in for everyone earning more than $200,000 a year, so the Speaker may see this as at least better than that.

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