Cantor: GOP ready to vote down bill extending only middle-class tax cuts

Republicans are prepared to vote down a bill extending all but the top-end tax cuts, the second-ranking GOP leader in the House said Tuesday.

Incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on Bloomberg Television he was ready to instruct GOP members to vote down legislation Democrats plan to bring to the floor that would extend the expiring Bush-era tax cuts only for the middle class.

Democrats in both the House and the Senate have signaled they would bring up for a vote this week bills that would extend tax cuts for all households earning less than $250,000 per year and all individuals earning less than $200,000 per year. That limited extension had been the preference of President Obama and Democrats, while Republicans have insisted on extending all tax cuts, even for the wealthy, for two years or even permanently.

"One of two things is going to happen in January. Either taxes go up, or they stay the same," Cantor said on NBC's "Today" show, framing the tax debate, which is set to top a meeting of leaders of both parties at the White House on Tuesday morning.

Democrats appear intent on forcing a vote on the more limited tax-cut extension if nothing more than to make a point. Many polls have shown most voters would prefer that the tax breaks for high earners be allowed to expire. It's not clear whether those votes will succeed, given the number of Democrats who have publicly backed extending all the tax cuts for some time. Failing that, Senate Democrats plan a "grab bag" of possible compromises, according to a report in the Huffington Post.

Cantor said that if lawmakers fail to pass an extension of all the tax cuts, one of the first moves to be made by the incoming GOP majority in the House would be to pass a bill to retroactively extend all tax cuts.

"If he says no to us on taxes I will tell you right now that the first bill we'll put on the floor as a new majority in January is a bill to retroactively ensure no one gets a tax hike," Cantor said of the White House meeting last night on Fox News.