President Joe Biden made the most of a political opportunity Wednesday to twist the knife a little deeper into the heart of the rupture currently roiling the Republican Party. Asked what it means for Republicans to be ousting Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming from a leadership post for telling the truth about the 2020 election, Biden marveled at the spectacle.
"I've been a Democrat for a long time. We've gone through periods where we've had internal fights and disagreements—I don't ever remember any like this," Biden told White House reporters, noting that a functional GOP is necessary for the health of the country. "I think the Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point."
In other words, Biden reminded Americans, the GOP is decompensating faster than he could have imagined. Now that doesn't sound like a party any sane voter wants to put in charge of the country regardless of how conservative their political leanings, does it?
Biden also capitalized on Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's comments earlier in the day that he was “100%” committed to stopping Biden's agenda.
"The bottom line is this," Biden said of GOP opposition to his proposals, "My Republican friends had no problem voting to pass a tax proposal that expires in 2025, that cost $2 trillion—none of it paid for—increased the deficit by $2 trillion; gave the overwhelming percentage of those tax breaks to people who didn’t need it: the top one-tenth of 1%. They didn’t need it."
Biden later hammered Republicans as deficit spenders. Asked if he was open to reducing the corporate tax rate increase he is proposing to 25%, Biden said, yes.
"I’m willing to compromise," he explained, "But I’m not willing to not pay for what we’re talking about. I’m not willing to deficit spend. They already have us $2 trillion in the hole."
In fact, in Biden's pitch, the tax increases on the rich and major corporations are a feature rather than a bug. Those increases alone serve a purpose of helping to level the playing field for struggling Americans. And by the way, they're not really increases at all—they are rollbacks of the GOP's 2017 to giveaway to the wealthy that proved so unpopular with voters, Republicans ran from it on the campaign trail in 2018.
There’s a reason Biden uses the GOP's 2017 tax cuts as context for his proposals, Democratic pollster Geoff Garin told the New York Times.
“It’s clear from polling that when you provide the context of the 2017 corporate tax cut, which most voters feel was excessive and wasteful, support for the Biden proposal goes even higher.”
On Monday—the same day McConnell pledged that "none, zero" Republicans would vote for Biden's proposals—the president posed a question to those watching his press conference on the American Families Plan at Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth, Virginia.
"So, for folks at home, I’d like to ask a question: Do we want to give the wealthiest people in America another tax cut?" Biden wondered. "Or do you want to give every high school graduate the ability to earn a community college degree on their way to good-paying jobs or on their way to four years of school in industries of the future—healthcare, IT, cybersecurity, you name it?"
Doesn't seem like much of a competition, especially when he's promising his tax increases won't disrupt the lifestyle of the nation's wealthiest one iota.
"We’re not going to deprive any of these executives their—that second or third home; travel privately by jet," Biden said Wednesday of his commitment to paying for the trillion-dollar investments he plans to make. "It’s not going to affect their standard of living at all, not a little tiny bit."
Just in case anyone at home forgot about the type of wealth his tax increases are targeting.
"I've been a Democrat for a long time. We've gone through periods where we've had internal fights and disagreements—I don't ever remember any like this," Biden told White House reporters, noting that a functional GOP is necessary for the health of the country. "I think the Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point."
In other words, Biden reminded Americans, the GOP is decompensating faster than he could have imagined. Now that doesn't sound like a party any sane voter wants to put in charge of the country regardless of how conservative their political leanings, does it?
Biden also capitalized on Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's comments earlier in the day that he was “100%” committed to stopping Biden's agenda.
"The bottom line is this," Biden said of GOP opposition to his proposals, "My Republican friends had no problem voting to pass a tax proposal that expires in 2025, that cost $2 trillion—none of it paid for—increased the deficit by $2 trillion; gave the overwhelming percentage of those tax breaks to people who didn’t need it: the top one-tenth of 1%. They didn’t need it."
Biden later hammered Republicans as deficit spenders. Asked if he was open to reducing the corporate tax rate increase he is proposing to 25%, Biden said, yes.
"I’m willing to compromise," he explained, "But I’m not willing to not pay for what we’re talking about. I’m not willing to deficit spend. They already have us $2 trillion in the hole."
In fact, in Biden's pitch, the tax increases on the rich and major corporations are a feature rather than a bug. Those increases alone serve a purpose of helping to level the playing field for struggling Americans. And by the way, they're not really increases at all—they are rollbacks of the GOP's 2017 to giveaway to the wealthy that proved so unpopular with voters, Republicans ran from it on the campaign trail in 2018.
There’s a reason Biden uses the GOP's 2017 tax cuts as context for his proposals, Democratic pollster Geoff Garin told the New York Times.
“It’s clear from polling that when you provide the context of the 2017 corporate tax cut, which most voters feel was excessive and wasteful, support for the Biden proposal goes even higher.”
On Monday—the same day McConnell pledged that "none, zero" Republicans would vote for Biden's proposals—the president posed a question to those watching his press conference on the American Families Plan at Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth, Virginia.
"So, for folks at home, I’d like to ask a question: Do we want to give the wealthiest people in America another tax cut?" Biden wondered. "Or do you want to give every high school graduate the ability to earn a community college degree on their way to good-paying jobs or on their way to four years of school in industries of the future—healthcare, IT, cybersecurity, you name it?"
Doesn't seem like much of a competition, especially when he's promising his tax increases won't disrupt the lifestyle of the nation's wealthiest one iota.
"We’re not going to deprive any of these executives their—that second or third home; travel privately by jet," Biden said Wednesday of his commitment to paying for the trillion-dollar investments he plans to make. "It’s not going to affect their standard of living at all, not a little tiny bit."
Just in case anyone at home forgot about the type of wealth his tax increases are targeting.