Republicans Float Fiscal Cliff Fallback Plan

Having still not gotten the message that a majority of Americans do not want what they are peddling, Congressional Republicans continue to show that they are horses' asses and are plotting how to save face with the Christofascists/Tea Party base as the fiscal cliff deadline approaches.  If forced to accept even modest tax increases for the wealthy, indications are that the GOP will continue to seek draconian spending cuts on domestic programs that help far more Americans than their favored top 2% of taxpayers.  In short, these Republicans want to give the appearance of compromise, while wanting to still place the bulk of the burden on working class and middle class families.  Their reverse Robin Hodd mentality remains alive and well.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at the GOP's duplicitous strategy.  Here are highlights:

With negotiations on how to address the fiscal cliff apparently stalled, congressional Republicans are reportedly floating a fallback plan in both chambers of Congress to avert financial crisis if a deal is not reached. That plan would include ceding to President Obama on letting tax cuts expire for the top two percent of earners, but would also take a more hostile approach to other Democratic proposals. 

On Wednesday, Boehner warned House Republicans to not make plans for the upcoming holiday, signaling that there may not be a deal by the end of the year.   According to the New York Times and the Washington Post, Republican leaders are gearing up for that possibility and proposing an alternate strategy to pursue if a deal does not go through. The Times reports:

If no deal is reached, Republicans are increasingly talking about a more hostile outcome in which the House passes legislation that extends tax cuts for the middle class, sets relatively low tax rates on dividends, capital gains and inherited estates, and cancels the across-the-board defense cuts, but leaves in place across-the-board domestic cuts. Then House Republicans would engage in what Mr. Boehner, in a private meeting last week, called “trench warfare,” a running battle with the president on spending, first as the government approaches its statutory borrowing limit early next year, then in late March, when a stopgap government spending bill runs out. But such legislation might not be able to pass the Senate, leaving the country no closer to a resolution.

This strategy would result in significantly less new tax revenue than even Boehner's initial offer of $800 billion. Republicans could then declare victory on taxes while also appearing to compromise on extending middle class tax cuts, thus putting them in a position to pressure Democrats on spending cuts.