Obama takes tax fight to the suburbs

>>> thanks for wrapping up your week with the cycle. the president wrapped up his week with a trip to the burbs pushing tax relief for middle america .

>> a jobs bill passed the house this morning. i repeat a jobs bill passed the house this morning.

>> and heard it from sc, big news from the capital oil. we're awaiting big news from the nation's highest court . will gay marriage finally be put on the docket.

>> and tgif. thank goodness it's filibuster reform. wait that's not it?

>> i can barely hear myself think over jonathan's shirt.

>> love it.

>> when i was growing up in the suburbs, i didn't think it was the center of society. we went to the mall, we played in the back stuff, did stuff we weren't supposed to in the bachlts. but the soul of the middle class society was being born in the burbs. which is why when the president needs to speak to real americans, he takes his tax cut fight to the suburbs in philly.

>> i'm already missing the time that i spent on the campaign visiting towns like this and talking to folks like you. if congress does nothing, every family in america will see their income taxes automatically go up on january 1st . i'm assuming that doesn't sound too good to you. that's sort of like the lump of coal you get for christmas . that's a scrooge christmas .

>> we although about a scrooge christmas over here. house majority whip kevin mccarthy is out with his own campaign style video featuring a small business owner who will see his taxes spike if the obama plan passes.

>> this notion of $250,000 being top 2% or the wealthy people in america ignores the way most small businesses work in america . our company has figured out how to survive in this economy and how to be successful in this economy. the first thing we'll want to do with any income that i have is tax it? that's uncertainty.

>> kristen welker is at the white house . critics said the president wasn't pushing a bald deal focusing more on taxes than spending. now the white house is out with its formal debt proposal which mitch mcconnell says he laughed at when tim geithner showed to him. what's so funny?

>> reporter: to put the plan into context, first of all, this is the president's opening bid. and essentially comes after he's feeling emboldened by his re-election knowing there's not a whole lot in here that republicans will like off the bat. so just to take a look he it specifics, $1.6 trillion in new taxes, $400 billion in entitlement cuts. $50 billion in new stimulus. and then a proposal to end congress' control of the debt limit. republicans on the hill are essentially calling this plan a nonstarter. house speaker john boehner saying this is not serious. cantor echoing those remarks. they say they want to see fewer taxes and deeper cuts to entitlements. the white house is saying, okay, put your plan on the table. so they're waiting to essentially hear from republicans about what their plan is to reform entitlements. as you mentioned, president obama as part of his strategy out on the road today in the suburbs of philadelphia really trying to turn up the heat on congressional republicans to get on board with his plan to increase taxes on wealthier americans and republicans have been firing back all day long. but the clock is ticking. there is not a whole lot of time left here. you remember there was that sort of harmonious tone that came out of the first meeting that president had with congressional leaders. right now we're look at a stalemate. john boehner call this had a stalemate earlier today. president obama doesn't have any specific plans that the white house is reading out to talk to congressional leaders, but they say he will remain in contact with him in the coming days.

>> kristen welker at the white house . thank you vyou very much. now to governor ed rendell . the optics of the president in the burbs is interesting. why did he choose the suburbs for this fight?

>> these are traditional swing voter , voters who decide elections in pennsylvania. right now pennsylvania statewide elections are decided in the philadelphia suburbs. they're a decent demographic. not by any means poor people , but not rich people . they are the heart of the middle class , spexactly who the president is talking to.

>> let's talk more about this proposal by the president. i want to just play a quick clip from harry reid from earlier in the week. here's what he had to say.

>> remember we've already done more than a billion dollars worth of cuts. we've already done that. so we need to get credit for that and these negotiations that take place.

>> so democrats want credit for cutting a billion dollars when --

>> he meant a trillion dollars.

>> and obama has put together a deal that proposes more spending, 400 billion in unspecified cuts that will be named later apparently. i thought the president wanted a balanced package. what's balanced about 4:1 tax hikes to spending cuts?

>> well, first let me say harry misspoke. he meant that they've already done a trillion dollars in cuts in the last resolution and those play out over the next ten years. and that's correct. that's a fact. and the president has said consistently both on the campaign trail and after the election that he's for something on the lines of simpson-bowles which is at least 2.5:1 spending cuts to taxes. and i think he laid out the 400 and then said to the republicans you bring me other cuts and i'll consider them. and i think he understands that there will be significantly more spending cuts including on entitlements than there are taxes.

>> so this is an opening point.

>> an opening gambit as chris ten wel kristen welker said. the president's always been criticized by putting what he really wants on the table first. you do don't do that, staurt with something that's reasonable. ic ti think the $1.6 trillion is reasonable. but he knows he won't get $1.6 trillion in revenue. but he puts that out there because i think he probably wants to wind up at $1.1 trillion, $1.2 trillion, somewhere along that line. and you've got to start at a little higher figure. but the president make no mistake, he's committed to more spending cuts substantially.

>> and i have to agree with you. one the criticisms that i have leveled at the president for his previous negotiations like with health care reform , rather than starting with what he actually wanted, he started with this very centrist proposal with the public option. it was then demonized as socialism and he had to move to the right from there. so i'm glad to see him putting a plan on the table that is something that he would actually want and that people like me and the base would actually want to see. but my question for you is there's obviously a lot of resistance from democrats about significantly cutting entitlements. meanwhile when you look at the fiscal cliff, no one wants to go over it, but it would result in increasing taxes on the wealthy and the cuts that would be made would predominantly fall in defense, an area democrats are more comfortable with cutting than entitlements. do you think democrats would rather go over the cliff than take a bad deal on medicare and medicaid?

>> well, sure if you say take a bad deal. but look, i think every side in this negotiation has to understand they're not going to get exactly what we want. if we are going to ask republicans to vote for over a trillion dollars in increased revenue, and we know that's going to include some raising of the rates, maybe all the way to where the president wants or part of the way, if we ask them to do that, we have to give them something to take back to their constituencies and that will mean serious cuts in entitlement, restructured entitlements, sbiltsmeentitlement reform, and it can't come from just the providers. i know our base isn't going to like that, but it's a fact of life here. this is a time when there is short run pain for everybody. and we don't accept that. there is no way we'll do the deal of the magnitude we need without short run pain out there for everybody. and the hope is by doing this deal, the economy will literally take off and explode and that will benefit everybody who has absorbed short run pain. i commend the president for putting the $50 million in for infrastructure because that is a good job create are of well paying jobs. so let's give a little bit of that in the picture. but, look, we can't be naive and our base can't be obstinate. if we're asking them to do something difficult, we have to do something difficult.

>> i hope the pain does actually fall equally on every and not just the middle class and the poor.

>> i think the president will hold firm on that. absolutely.

>> governor, so let's talk about the other part of this deal and that that's geithner's proposal to take the debt limit away from the congress and give to the president. what do you think about that from a policy perspective and, two, is this idea basically doa in.

>> as a former executive in government, i think it's a great idea. but i would say that this will pass the congress about the the time that pigs fly .

>> just do away with the debt ceiling all together. it doesn't make any sense to start with.

>> that happens to be a great idea. that's a great idea. and that's something maybe reasonable people could agree on.

>> crystal for congress.

>> we had a fascinating discussion before the show and you were saying it's entirely ridiculous silly thing and just --

>> if congress is going to spend the money, if they want on spend less, then pass less spending through the house. totally arbitrary and stupid.

>> when pigs fly as the governor said. thank you, governor, for everything.

>> and i will 00 be search the sky to see some pigs.

>>> it's high time . the high court took up gay marriage . but will they? likely to find out this afternoon. pete williams is standing by inside the supreme court . we'll talk to him straight ahead. music is a universal language . but when i was in an accident... i was worried the