Boehner boxed in on fiscal cliff

>>> show." president obama has put house speaker john boehner and republicans in a box on fiscal cliff negotiations. and the evidence is mounting. president obama stayed on offense today, visiting the santana family in northern virginia whose taxes will go up more than $4,000 in 2013 if middle class tax cuts aren't extended.

>> i'm encouraged to see that there's been some discussion on the part of republicans acknowledging the need for additional revenue. as i've indicated, the only way to get the kind of revenue for a balanced deficit reduction plan is to make sure that we're also modestly increasing rates for people who can afford it. folks like me. just to be clear, i'm not going to sign any package that somehow prevents the top rate from going up for folks at the top 2%.

>> the concerted effort from the white house is very clear. here's white house press secretary jay carney .

>> what will produce a deal is an acknowledgement by republicans , republican leaders, that rates on the top 2%, the wealthiest americans , have to rise. there is no deal without that acknowledgement, and without a concrete, mathematically sound proposal --

>> but speaker boehner still insists he can get the revenue without raising rates?

>> now, the revenues we're putting on the table are going to come from guess who? the rich. there are ways to limit deductions, close loopholes, and have the same people pay more of their money to the federal government without raising tax rates , which we believe will harm our economy.

>> some conservatives just can't stand hearing speaker boehner admit the rich will pay more in taxes, but other republicans want boehner to concede a rate hike before it's too late. congressman steven told the " washington post " "i and some others are advocating giving the president what he wants as part of the package that includes entitlement cuts and reduces the debt by $4 trillion to $5 trillion. quite frankly, some people in this 2% who call me, they're more worried about the fiscal cliff than they are about rates going up a couple of points. congressman thomas rooney of florida said, "if there are truly real entitlement reforms that are going to be preserve social security and medicare for generations to come, it's going to be difficult for me to oppose higher rates for the rich." president obama and speaker boehner spoke by phone yesterday for the first time in a week. white house press secretary jay carney i find very interesting refused to characterize the conversation. let's bring in congressman chris van hollen of maryland tonight. good to have you with us.

>> always good to when with you.

>> you bet. are democrats united on this rate issue? we keep hearing it. now that boehner is starting to move a little bit and say that the money is going to come from the wealthy, yet he hasn't identified these reductions, where do democrats stand on rates? is that the bottom line? the rates have to go up?

>> the rates have to two up, ed. it's a matter of simple math, as the president has said. which is why in the house of representatives the democrats filed what's called a discharge petition that would require the speaker to bring to the floor of the house the senate bill , the senate democratic bill that immediately would extend tax relief to all middle income taxpayers and would ask higher income folks to pay more. if we can get about 26 republicans to put their signature on what many of them are saying they think we should do now, we could get that vote up right away.

>> well, you got 178 on the petition, correct?

>> that's right. we have 178 democrats . i'm sure we'll continue to get democrats to sign. and so we just need to get to the magic number of 218. so if we get a little help from our republican colleagues, they would be telling the middle class that middle class folks are going to get the tax relief, 98% of the americans. in fact, as you know, 100% of american families will get tax relief on their first $250,000 in income.

>> yeah. why does -- okay. let's say boehner does give up on the rates on the top 2%. what are you willing to give up? where do you think the democrats will go?

>> well, first of all, it's also the overall number the president's called for. what the president has said is we need $1.6 trillion as part of an overall deficit reduction plan because if you don't get those additional revenues, but you also try to reduce the deficit, you end up whacking everybody else much harder. and so it's really important to have that revenue number as high as possible.

>> sure.

>> look, the president's already been clear, ed, on cuts. he will continue to implement over the next ten years over $1 trillion in cuts that he agreed to as part of the budget control act. 100% cuts and at the time he said we got to come back and do revenue. he's also called for over a half trillion dollars in additional cuts and he's laid out exactly what those would be.

>> today senate minority leader mitch mcconnell dared democrats to vote on his debt ceiling bill. he put it out there. majority leader harry reid called him on it, called his bluff. then mcconnell filibustered his own bill. here's senator dick durbin .

>> so this may be a moment in senate history when a senator made a proposal and when given an opportunity for a vote on that proposal filibustered his own proposal. i think we have now reached a new spot in the history of the senate we've never seen before.

>> congressman, proof positive they have winging it.

>> well, look, the senate and house republicans are just tieing themselves up in all sorts of knots. this is the latest evidence of this. this is known now as the mcconnell rule. and now he wants to distance himself and disassociate himself with it. you know, his name is attached to it. he thought of this idea. and what the president has said is, you know, it was a good idea then, senator mcconnell , let's continue to live with it, let's extend it. and as you know, all we're doing with the debt ceiling is saying that the united states will pay the obligations that the congress has already voted on.

>> sure.

>> so you can't wake up in the morning and say you're not going to pay your mortgage. the united states can't wake up in the morning and say, we're not going to pay the debts that we've already incurred and congresses have already voted for.

>> and what else do the republicans want? you have the democrats willing to go with 98% of bush tax policy and they're still not happy. congressman, good to have you with us tonight. chris van hollen here on "the ed show." thank you.

>>> the president asks the american people to keep the pressure on congress. will republicans cave? donna genteel-o'donnell and michael eric dyson join us for the discussion.

>>> and chris christie becomes the latest republican governor to reject a state-run health insurance exchange. he's leaving it up to the feds. former governor howard dean will weigh in. stay