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Re-energized Obama and GOP size each other on budget deal
“Waiting for a month, six weeks, six months, that’s not going to solve the problem,” Reid said on Capitol Hill. “We know what needs to be done. And so I think that we should just roll up our sleeves and get it done.”
Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said the post-election congressional session offers a good chance to reset the dynamics between the White House and congressional Republicans in search of compromise.
“I think there’s the urgency of the matter that probably goes beyond anything we’ve seen to date,” he said. “The urgency of the repercussions of driving off the cliff are so grave that I can’t imagine that failure is an option.”
Both Biden and Reid pointed to election exit poll results showing that most Americans support higher taxes on the wealthy.
Biden said there was “a clear sort of mandate about people coming much closer to our view about how to deal with tax policy,” adding that “there’s all kinds of potential to be able to reach a rational, principled compromise.”
Boehner, for his part, said that for Obama to get support for new revenues, “the president must be willing to reduce spending and shore up the entitlement programs that are the primary drivers of our debt.”
“We aren’t seeking to impose our will on the president; we’re asking him to make good on his ‘balanced’ approach,” the Ohio Republican said on Capitol Hill.
