WASHINGTON -- The Obama White House is not yet willing to commit to the progressive community's preferred course of action on the debate surrounding the Bush tax cuts, saying only that negotiations continue as the deadline for expiration approaches.
In an off-camera briefing with reporters on Wednesday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs deflected a question as to whether the administration would like to see a solitary vote on whether to keep the current rates for the middle class while letting those for the wealthy expire.
"I'd have to talk to [legislation] affairs office," he said, deploying a now common rhetorical device to avoid answering the question.
Hosting a singular vote on extending the middle class tax cuts -- even with all the surrounding ambiguity over the possibility of passage -- has become a rallying point for the progressive community in recent days. The union federation, AFL-CIO has jumped on the idea of calling the Republicans bluff, as have a few liberal members of Congress.
The problem, of course, is that the officials in positions of power have shown no eagerness to go down that path. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), on Tuesday, said he would "take a look at a two- or three-year temporary tax cut" across the board, even though his personal preference was to let the rates for income over $250,000 go back to pre-Bush levels.
The White House, too, has been upfront about the fact that they are in a let's-make-a-deal mood. On Wednesday, Gibbs said that the administration has been in discussion with Democratic leadership on the matter. The prevailing concern, he added, is to not let the rates for all individuals go up, as they are scheduled to do after December 31.
"We have to [do something]," he said. "As you know, the tax cuts expire at the end of the year."
"I think there is going to be, there is a strong impetus to get something done by the end of the year. There has to be or we find ourselves in a situation where nobody thinks we should be in, that is watching middle-class families have their taxes raise."