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A prominent Democratic senator yesterday said her party is willing to sink the economy and send the nation over the so-called fiscal cliff in order to convince reluctant Republicans to raise taxes on the rich.
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) — the co-chair of last year’s Senate Budget Committee, who is poised to head the panel again this year — said her party will allow automatic spending cuts and $700 billion in tax increases to kick in at the end of the year if the GOP doesn’t budge on tax hikes on those whose earnings top $250,000.
That situation, which has been likened to the United States falling off of a fiscal cliff, has prompted fears of another deep recession.
But Murray insisted the hard-line position was necessary.
“We can’t accept an unfair deal that piles all of this on the middle class and tells them they have to support it,” Murray said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We have to make sure that the wealthiest of Americans pay their fair share.”
If Republicans, many of whom were elected after campaigning against tax hikes, won’t agree, Democrats shouldn’t blink, she said.
“We’ll start over next year and whatever we do will be a tax cut for whatever package we put together. That may be the way to get past this,” said Murray.
“No one wants to go off the fiscal cliff, but a fair deal is absolutely critical here.”
Sen. Charles Schumer also said Democrats can’t cave in.
“[President Obama] campaigned on it clearly,” the veteran New York Democrat said on “Meet the Press.” “He didn’t back off it.”
The Democrats’ line in the sand comes amid renewed Republican calls for no tax hikes.
“A tax increase never created a new job in this country,” Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It doesn’t make any sense to us to raise taxes on job creators in this time of economic challenge.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said raising tax rates will stymie job creation. But he added he is willing to raise revenue through tax reform and by eliminating “loopholes” in the tax code.
The average family will pay an extra $2,000 to $3,000 in income taxes if Congress fails to reach an agreement before the Bush tax cuts expire on Jan. 1, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The economy would shrink by 0.5 percent, the CBO has found.