Hoyer appears to leave door open to middle-class tax hike

In a speech before the progressive think tank The Third Way, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday appeared to leave the door open to reigning in middle-class tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush. 

"At a minimum, the House will not extend the tax cuts benefiting taxpayers of incomes above $250,000 despite some suggestions in the Senate that they be extended along with all other Bush tax cuts," he said. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) took the statement to indicate that tax cuts benefiting those making less than that could also sunset. 

"The House Majority Leader in a speech just today warns that in order to do anything about the debt crisis Republicans have been speaking about on the floor in recent weeks, President Obama will have no choice — no choice — but to break his campaign pledge of no new taxes for millions of American families," McConnell said. 

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama promised that single filers earning less $200,000 annually and joint filers making less than $250,000 would not see a tax increase. 

House leaders have repeatedly said Bush tax cuts affecting the middle class will be extended and that their costs are protected under pay-as-you go rules from having to be offset. 

Hoyer today urged a serious discussion on how extending the Bush tax cuts would affect efforts to shrink the deficit. He did not exclude middle-class tax breaks from that discussion. 

"As the House and Senate debate what to do with the expiring Bush tax cuts in the coming weeks, we need to have a serious discussion about their implications for our fiscal outlook, including whether we can afford to permanently extend them before we have a real plan for long-term deficit reduction," he said.