REDFORD, Mich. (AP) — President Barack Obama
warned Monday that he "won't compromise" on his demands that the
wealthiest Americans
pay higher tax rates, digging in on the chief sticking point
between the White House and Republicans as they seek a way to
avert the "fiscal cliff."
Obama brought his pressure-Congress campaign to the heart of industrial America, ripping lines from his own re-election bid
as the nation inched closer to a perilous economic cliff. He said the country couldn't afford a "manufactured" crisis and
pledged to cheering auto workers that he would fight to extend tax cuts for the middle class before they expire at year's
end.
"That's a hit you can't afford to take," Obama declared.
Obama's campaign-style trip to Michigan came
one day after he and House Speaker John Boehner met privately at the
White House.
While neither side would characterize the meeting, the mere fact
that the two leaders talked face-to-face was seen as progress
in negotiations to avoid a series of year-end tax hikes and
spending cuts.
Republicans have long opposed Obama's call
for higher tax rates on the wealthy, but some GOP lawmakers are
suggesting the
party relent on taxes in order to win concessions from the
president on changes to benefit programs such as Medicare. Still,
Boehner's office indicated Monday that the speaker wasn't ready to
take that step.
"The Republican offer made last week remains
the Republican offer," said Brendan Buck, a Boehner spokesman. He was
referring
to a GOP plan that offered $800 billion in new revenue over the
next decade through reducing or eliminating unspecified tax
breaks on upper-income earners, but not by raising tax rates.
In Michigan, Obama was more restrained in
his remarks, never directly criticizing Republicans and keeping his
focus more broadly
on the need for Congress to act quickly to prevent a tax increase
for middle class families. During his last trip outside
of Washington, D.C. — to a toy factory in Pennsylvania on Nov. 30 —
the president likened raising taxes on the middle class
to a "lump of coal" for Christmas, a "Scrooge Christmas."
Obama saved his most pointed criticism for closely-watched measures in the state legislature that would prevent requiring
non-union employees to financially support unions at their workplace. Drawing cheers, the president said the right-to-work
legislation was more about politics than economics. "What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for
less money," Obama said.
At the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant, Obama
hailed the company's plans to spend an additional $100 million to boost
production
in the U.S. He noted the importance of the auto industry's supply
chain nearly four years after the government rescued carmakers
General Motors and Chrysler.
White House press secretary Jay Carney,
speaking to reporters traveling with Obama, reiterated that there could
be no deal
on the fiscal cliff without tax rate increases on the wealthiest
Americans. But he said the president remains optimistic that
both sides can reach an agreement.
"He's eager to get a deal and he believes a deal is possible," Carney said.
Obama's plan would raise $1.6 trillion in
revenue over 10 years, partly by letting decade-old tax cuts on the
country's highest
earners expire at the end of the year. The president wants tax
rates to rise on incomes over $200,000 for individuals and
$250,000 for couples. Individuals earning more than $200,000 and
couples making more than $250,000 would see their top rates
rise from 33 percent and 35 percent to 36 percent and 39.6
percent, respectively.
Boehner's plan, in addition to calling for $800 billion in new revenues, also would cut spending by $1.4 trillion, including
by trimming annual increases in Social Security payments and raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67.
The White House is trying influence the
process with the public's help. The president's re-election campaign
emailed supporters
Monday, asking them to call their representatives and urge them to
back Obama's fiscal cliff plan, even suggesting a script
they could read.
It was the latest example of the White House
trying to put its massive voter database to use during the fiscal cliff
negotiations
in the same way it did during the presidential campaign.
Business leaders, meanwhile, emphasized the
need to reach an agreement before year's end, raising the costs of
creating uncertainty
in the marketplace.
"The millions of people that work for us,
their lives are in flux. And this is incredibly critical we get this
done now,"
said Jeffrey Immelt, GE's chief executive and head of the
presidential advisory council on competitiveness, in remarks aired
Monday on "CBS This Morning."
GOP mavericks are putting increased pressure
on their party's leaders to rethink how they approach negotiations with
Obama
in the wake of a bruising national election that left Democrats in
charge of the White House and Senate. Sen. Bob Corker,
R-Tenn., told "Fox News Sunday" that if Republicans agree to
Obama's plan to increase rates on the top 2 percent of Americans,
"the focus then shifts to entitlements, and maybe it puts us in a
place where we actually can do something that really saves
the nation."
But such ideas face an uphill battle. Many
House Republicans say they wouldn't vote for tax rate hikes under any
circumstances.
And GOP leadership could lose leverage in the negotiations if it
raises the rate on upper-income earners without getting anything
substantial in return like entitlement reform.
Democratic leaders have suggested they are unwilling to tackle entitlement spending in the three weeks left before the fiscal
cliff is triggered.