White House adviser sees GOP movement on tax revenues

Senior White House adviser David Plouffe on Sunday said there are increasing signs of openness among Republicans to a fiscal agreement that includes higher tax revenues.

“You are beginning to see some compromise potential coming out of the Republicans,” Plouffe said on CNN. “You see more Republicans in particular in the Senate in particular talking about, well, maybe they would be open to higher revenues through tax reform.”

Plouffe, speaking on the CNN program “State of the Union,” also said that more Democrats “are open to the kind of entitlement reform that we need to do.”

Plouffe made the comments when asked about the prospects for agreements with congressional Republicans during a potential second Obama term.

Agreements on tax and entitlement policy have proven elusive, and efforts last year by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to craft a “grand bargain” to attack the debt collapsed.

With polls showing Obama locked in a tight race with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in key swing states, Plouffe defended the president's first term, saying the administration had  "accomplished a lot” on areas including energy, healthcare and middle class tax relief. But, Plouffe added “we need to build on that.”

“Gov. Romney and his allies in Congress they want go back to the same policies that created the recession. We know that won’t work,” Plouffe said.

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