December 24, 2010 7:00 AM
The president?s primary negotiator for the tax cut deal on Capitol Hill told me the administration will hold the line in two years when those cuts expire despite the surge of incoming GOP congressmen about to flood Capitol Hill.
?George, that's why I think I felt confident in being asked by the President to negotiate a deal on taxes that the equities and the economic imperatives are going to be to not extend the high end tax cut, which would cost $700 billion over 10 years.� And not extend this overly generous estate tax,? Vice President Joe Biden told me.
Is that a guarantee?
?Nothing?s a guarantee,? he said.
?But I think all the equities, if people look at it objectively, are going to say we have to cut spending.� We have to deal with tax revenues.� And the obvious, obvious place to do that is not to add another $700 billion dollars to the debt for the high end tax cuts and/or another $120 billion dollars to the debt for this overly generous estate tax,? Biden told me.
Another hot topic during this lame-duck session of Congress ? Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell, which Obama signed into law on Wednesday.
The vice president agreed with Obama?s comments that his position on gay marriage is ?evolving.?� Biden said there is an ?inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage.?
?I think the country's evolving.� And I think you're going to see, you know, the next effort is probably going to be to deal with so called DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act],? he said.
My interview with Biden capped off a busy lame-duck session following the passage of the 9/11 health bill, the food safety bill and the Senate ratifying the START treaty.
President Obama called it the ?most productive post-election period that we've had in decades.?
Biden ? who also had a prominent role in the passage of the nuclear arms deal with Russia ? said the combination of the demand for cooperation from the public and the urgency of a short timeframe helped.
?It either makes it impossible or accelerates the prospect of it happening.� And I think in this case it accelerated the prospect of it happening,? he said.
But cooperation will be more challenging next term, he said, and offered words of warning for the new Republicans members.
?I think that what appears to be sort of a slam dunk for some very conservative Republicans' point of view is not-- is going to turn out not to be so easy.� I think there's going to be a need on everyone's part, and a realization that it's in everyone's interest politically to cooperate in dealing with keeping the economy growing and beginning to address the long-term debt,? he said.
Out of Afghanistan by 2014 ?Come Hell or High Water??
This White House took a slight step back from Biden?s comments on NBC this week that the U.S. will be out of Afghanistan by 2014 ?come hell or high water.?
But Biden did not back off that statement, telling me that he is ?absolutely confident? that those withdrawals will take place.
?That was the reason I was so definitive.� It, by the way, it was in the context of my making-- analogizing what we did in Iraq by over a three year period getting out of the cities, then reducing to 100,000 troops, then getting out completely,?� he said.
I asked if that will also include closing Bagram and Kandahar air bases. The answer? Maybe not.
?I think there's equally a prospect that they'll remain open as closed,? Biden said.� ?But we're not going to be there with 100-- my generic point was there're not going to be 140,000 ISAF forces, International Security Forces, in Afghanistan by the year 2014.?
North Korea: ?It Is Dicey?
Speaking to administration officials this week I detected a heightened concern about North Korea ? perhaps the highest level of concern yet.
Biden called the situation ?dicey? and said there is ?reason for concern? following North Korea?s deadly attack on a small South Korean island last month.
?That's why we have to keep cooperating, particular with the Chinese, to get them to continue to put pressure on the North?and the North needs the Chinese for a whole range of reasons.� And so that's where the main pressure point can come,? he said.
December 24, 2010 in Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Democrats, GMA, Joe Biden , North Korea, Republicans, The Economy, White House | Permalink | Share | User Comments (47)
Hurray, the administration is telegraphing that they recognize the injustice of denying equal marriage rights to gay & lesbian citizens.
This statement is the beginning of the adminstration's rollout if its new position in favor if same sex marriage.
Posted by: Hunter Pastare | Dec 24, 2010 7:18:42 AM
Mr Biden and Obama can be taken seriously on needing to raise tax revenues only after the Repeal of the budget crushing ObamaCare.
Posted by: Rick | Dec 24, 2010 7:51:25 AM
Civil Unions are so last century. Obama would be wise to heed the tide of history and become a fierce advocate for full marriage equality. Trying to ride the fence on this issue is no longer an option.
Posted by: Phil Benjamin | Dec 24, 2010 8:02:29 AM
Does it strike you as odd that now that the the Republicans are back in the game things are suddenly bipartisan and everyone is cooperating to "get things done, with more consideration for what the people want? Except for taxing the rich of course. Kinda takes incentive out of wanting to be successful if yu are going to give 3/4 of it to the government in two years if they start taxing the heck out of the rich.
Posted by: nobdynosemyname | Dec 24, 2010 8:07:48 AM
Biden is wrong --- I believe our Current tax structure actually perpetuates Class warfare,and is counterproductive to National Solvency. We actually need to change the tax code completely. As it sits, all our existing system causes is class warfare, and its resulting disease, Gridlock, That 50% carry all the tax burden, and 50% none, is the root cause of many of our problems. To Eliminate this debacle. I suggest we Repeal/ Replace Income tax with a National Sales tax (exempting food and Medicine), with a graduated Exemption/Credit or stipend, for the poor and elderly... A national sales tax would allow us to tax Imports, without breaking existing trade agreements, and would place some of our tax exposure on foreign entities. This would help us level the playing field, our loss of manufacturing has created!!! This whole Washington tax conflict , is the direct result of the class warfare, created by an Income based tax system, which pits the Payers against the Payees. Thus our Two party debacle --- the Dems champion the Middle/Lower Classes , who depend on Govt. helps --- The GOP champion the Middle/Upper Classes who paymost in taxes. The disease is Class warfare -- the only real solution is to eliminate the division completely !!!
Posted by: brian | Dec 24, 2010 8:37:45 AM
Ok so Gays get married and the next thing is they want kids so they have to adopt. So what about the rights of these adopted children being raised in a Gay Home. What chances do you think they will be also? This is not good and breaking down the Family Structure of the U.S.
Posted by: hdrake | Dec 24, 2010 8:59:54 AM
hdrake - Gay people already adopt children. I don't have a problem with that. However, I don't believe same-sex marriage is right. If people are gay - fine - but they shouldn't act on those urges. Just like someone who has the urge to steal something shouldn't. We all have our burdens and tempations with which we struggle - but we need to use self-control.
Posted by: honestly | Dec 24, 2010 9:15:37 AM
Regardless of one's position on gay marriage, the scary thing is that Biden is one heartbeat away from the Presidency. He's the Dan Quayle of the Democratic Party.
Posted by: Tyrone | Dec 24, 2010 9:18:52 AM
Bidens statement about gay marriages just shows how out of touch he is with middle America. Politicans live in a bubble and that is why they lost so badly in 2010 and will again in 2012.
Posted by: Freedom | Dec 24, 2010 9:21:21 AM
A Lame Duck Lame Brain Congress trying to punish the voters who voted them out of office,come january the new Congress needs to review all of this stuff and repeal what is not in the peoples intrest...
Posted by: earl | Dec 24, 2010 9:37:19 AM
Has biden ever been right on anything? Dumbest VP ever, and its not even close!
Posted by: rfb09 | Dec 24, 2010 9:45:48 AM
I don't believe that it is as inevitable as Biden being thrown out of office next election.
Posted by: RocketJL | Dec 24, 2010 9:57:33 AM
There is really only 1 difference between Republicans and Democrats...
Democrats like to spend using tax revenue...
Republicans like to spend using borrowed money, to be paid off generations later...
...which method of the two comes with the additional cost of interest expenses?
Posted by: Georgie Bushie | Dec 24, 2010 10:16:12 AM
For Christians who believe that gay marriage is wrong or sinful, allow gay marriage to occur through the government and not in the church. We are supposed to separate church and state as it is. I'm a Christian and have no problem with gay people, we all sin and I believe that God will judge us all. Murder, rape, abominable sins are the real issue, not if two consenting adults choose to love each other outside the realm of what's considered normal. We have a generation who has recently raised enough rude, selfish, potentially lazy Americans and part of it is because the divorce rate and overall lack of parenting skills have declined. So, let gay folk marry and adopt. They might do a better job raising youth than us straight people.
Posted by: Prof302 | Dec 24, 2010 10:24:02 AM
"we need to use self-control" You're asking adults to remain perfectly chaste and ignore their sexual well-being throughout the course of a lifetime by willpower? Why would you rob people of one of the most joyful components of a complete life?
Posted by: Jack Daws | Dec 24, 2010 10:25:53 AM
earl Said: "...come january the new Congress needs to review all of this stuff and repeal what is not in the peoples intrest."
======================================
LMAO!...and the funny part is, you really think that Republicans are going to do this.
Posted by: Georgie Bushie | Dec 24, 2010 10:29:10 AM
It is so obvious Biden's statement is simply to pacify the progressive left.
Posted by: LongT | Dec 24, 2010 10:32:45 AM
"Mr Biden and Obama can be taken seriously on needing to raise tax revenues only after the Repeal of the budget crushing ObamaCare"
Except health care reform was paid for, actually reduces the deficit. Of course they don't mention that part of Fox.
Posted by: ahumbleopinion | Dec 24, 2010 10:33:49 AM
Amazing how this country has transformed perversion into a civil right.
Posted by: Residenttroll | Dec 24, 2010 11:07:56 AM
Obama and Biden are endorsing millions of peoples sinning, making the bad choice of being gay and spitting in the face of Jesus on Christmas eve? For shame.
Posted by: Paulie | Dec 24, 2010 11:11:48 AM
Wow!...By the rage in some of these comments, you can really tell that the true, right-wing, "Love thy neighbor" Christians are out today.
Of course, in their eyes it's really "Love Thy Neighbor (only if he/she agrees with your opionion, and if he/she is a Republican)"... LOL!
You just gotta wonder about those "America's very own Al Qaeda" types.
Posted by: Georgie Bushie | Dec 24, 2010 11:39:38 AM
"Mr Biden and Obama can be taken seriously on needing to raise tax revenues only after the Repeal of the budget crushing ObamaCare." And you can only be taken seriously when you stop spouting myths. Every non-partisan anaylsis of this legislation has found that it pays for itself and/or SAVES billions. What is crushing the budget is war/defense spending and tax cuts for the rich and large corporations, same as it ever was.
Posted by: Raven | Dec 24, 2010 11:51:53 AM
Binden has spoken! What a dork.
Posted by: Magnumdr | Dec 24, 2010 12:17:59 PM
The Vice President is facing a reality and being truthful about marriage.
If some choose to be religious and to engage in a spiritual lifestyle, fine. The Constitution gives them equal protection and due process for their belief and behavior.
They can't turn around and claim others 'choose' a homosexual lifestyle and engage in 'sinful' behavior, yet the same Constitutional guarantees don't apply.
Nature or nurture, inherent or choice, marriage for gays and lesbians is inevitable.
Nothing changes for those of other persuasions or beliefs by someone else's marriage. If it did, marriage would be trivialized, or nonexistent.
Posted by: Leslie | Dec 24, 2010 12:37:43 PM
all marriages are civil unions - hence the marriage license from your local city hall..the term "marriage" is a religious one. the ceremony in your church is not legal. You are "married" in the eyes of the law once the license is signed by a judge, not your minister. any and all non religious folks/gays/whomever, should find another word for it, but marriage isn't it !
Posted by: halfmn | Dec 24, 2010 12:42:38 PM
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