President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy at the Amazon Chattanooga Fulfillment Center in Chattnooga, Tenn., July 30, 2013.<\/p>\n
President Obama pressed GOP lawmakers on Tuesday to strike a deal that would lower corporate tax rates in exchange for boosting spending on jobs and infrastructure programs.\n<\/p>\n
The White House cast the new plan as a \u00c5\u201cgrand bargain for the middle class,\u201d as well as a new way to ease the partisan gridlock expected to intensify this fall with battles over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cIf we\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re going to break free of the same old arguments, where I propose an idea and Republicans say no just because it\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s my idea, let me try offering something that serious people in both parties should be able to support,\u201d Obama said at an Amazon.com warehouse in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he outlined his new offer: \u00c5\u201cA deal that simplifies the tax code for our businesses and creates good jobs with good wages for the middle-class folks who work at those businesses.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Despite the olive branch, Obama’s proposal immediately drew fire from the top Republicans in Congress.\n<\/p>\n
The plan, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) insisted, was \u00c5\u201can unmistakable signal that the president has backed away from his campaign-era promise to corporate America that tax reform would be revenue-neutral to them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
GOP senators and aides also said the new White House plan raises serious questions about the chances for tax reform – especially after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had already said last week that the $975 billion in additional revenues included in the Senate budget should be the starting point for tax reform negotiations.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cSometimes it just seems that this administration never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity to grow this economy,\u201d Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told reporters on Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cThis is part of the reason we have the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression,\u201d Toomey added. \u00c5\u201cWe don\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t need more tax increases.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Obama\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s new plan recycles several of his previous proposals on corporate tax reform.\n<\/p>\n
The White House plan to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent – among the highest in the developed world – to 28 percent was first rolled out by Treasury in 2012, as was the idea of pushing the effective rate to 25 percent for manufacturers.\n<\/p>\n
The White House is also proposing to allow small businesses to write off as much as $1 million in investments, and calling on Congress to sign off on new infrastructure spending, aid to community colleges and investment in manufacturing hubs.\n<\/p>\n
To pay for the new spending, Obama proposed a one-time \u00c5\u201ctransition fee\u201d on the hundreds of billions of dollars that companies are currently holding or earning overseas.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cThe point is, if Washington spent as much time and energy these past two years figuring out how to grow the economy and the middle class as it spent manufacturing crises in pursuit of a cut-at-all-costs approach to deficits, we\u00e2\u201e\u00a2d be much better off,\u201d Obama said in Chattanooga. The Hill\n<\/p>\n
AHT\/ARA\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n