McConnell: Best outcome for Obama is ‘for taxes to go up on everybody’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that there is nothing better for President Obama than to raise taxes on everyone.

“For President Obama, there is no better outcome than for taxes to go up on everybody — everybody,” McConnell said on the floor Thursday. “Why? Because the only way to pay for the big government this president wants is by raising taxes on everybody — the super-rich, the rich, middle class, lower class, you name it.”

Lawmakers have been working on a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff at the end of the year, when the Bush-era tax rates expire and sequestration takes effect. Democrats have called for extending the Bush-era rates for those making less than $250,000 a year, while Republicans have said raising taxes on anyone harms the economy.

“If all you do is whack the so-called rich, you only get enough money about a week of government,” McConnell said. “So let’s be clear about something: [Obama] wants to soak everybody. That’s the only way to do it. And that is exactly what he gets if we do nothing.”

McConnell called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to hold a vote on a plan proposed by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), which would permanently extend the Bush tax rates for income less than $1 million. Boehner’s plan would also replace the $109 billion sequester with other budget cuts. The House will vote on that plan later Thursday.

“This president may want to soak the American people to fund his vision of a social welfare state. But we’re not going to let him do it,” McConnell said. “Later today, Republicans in the House will pass a bill that protects more than 99 percent of the American people from the tax hike Democrats want to slap them within two weeks.”

Reid has called on Boehner to allow a vote on a Senate-passed bill, the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, which would extend the tax rates for 98 percent of taxpayers, but Boehner decided Wednesday not to hold such a vote.

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