Biden: White House will go to the mat on Bush tax cut pledge

Biden’s remarks come shortly after President Obama refrained from issuing a veto threat if Congress extends the tax cuts for the wealthy.  

Appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America” last week, Obama refused to threaten to veto a bill that extends all the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush.

“What I am saying is that if we are going to add to our deficit by $35 billion, $95 billion, $100 billion, $700 billion, if that’s the Republican agenda, then I’ve got a whole bunch of better ways to spend that money,” he said.

The refusal came on the heels of Obama doubling down on his position by personally calling to end tax cuts for the rich in a press conference a day earlier.

Since then, the issue has become a hot button issue on Capitol Hill. The weak recovery has an increasing number of Democrats siding with Republicans in calling for an extension of all the tax cuts. 

Several Democratic senators now back a full extension and it has prompted Democratic leaders to rethink their original plan of having the upper chamber act first on the tax cuts.  

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday indicated that leaders of the tax-writing committees will now take the lead in deciding which chamber will act first on extending the measures. 

“I know the Ways and Means Committee is discussing it with the Senate Finance Committee as to how we are going to proceed,” he told reporters. “And I’m going to wait for those discussions before I get very deeply involved in that discussion on the process of who’s going to consider what when.” 

Ways and Means members told The Hill that the committee will begin discussing the tax cuts next week. Sources say a tax hike aimed at millionaires is very much in play if the committees take control of the issue. 

However, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Wednesday suggested that tax relief for any making more than $250,000 annually is likely a non-starter. 

“I think what the president has made abundantly clear is we can’t — we simply cannot afford to extend the tax cuts for those that make beyond $250,000 a year,” he told reporters.