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Washington (CNN) - A new poll indicates a majority of Americans are OK with raising taxes on incomes over $250,000 per year as part of a deal to prevent the country from falling off the fiscal cliff.
Both sides agree the wealthy will pay more, so now fiscal cliff talks come down to how much Republicans can wring out of the White House in return for giving in on taxes. To President Barack Obama, it's all about first locking in additional revenue from raising taxes on high-income owners, an outcome the GOP has long rejected. Republicans led by House Speaker John Boehner want to secure commitments on entitlement reforms and spending cuts opposed by Democrats as part of a broader agreement to reduce the nation's chronic federal deficits and debt. A GOP source told CNN that talks between staff members on both sides resumed Thursday for the first time this week, after Obama and Boehner spoke by phone the day before.
Meanwhile, retiring Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio told CNN that he sensed a shift in the House GOP approach during a conference meeting Wednesday. "The sense was that there's a growing number of folks in our party that are saying, 'You know what, the president has won this round relative to the rates, but we need to you to sit down and get the second half of the deal and that's the spending,'" LaTourette said. It remains unclear if a deal will happen before the end of the year -- less than four weeks away -- or if the negotiations will carry over into 2013 after the fiscal cliff of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts takes effect.
While economists warn that going over the fiscal cliff could lead to a recession, the administration has signaled it can delay some of the impacts to allow time to work out a deal. All signs point toward a two-step approach sought by the newly re-elected Obama -- an initial agreement that would extend lower tax rates for income up to $250,000 for families, while letting rates return to higher levels from the Clinton era on income above that threshold. Even conservatives such as Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal acknowledge the obvious -- taxes on the wealthy are going up despite opposition by Republicans. "Whatever deal is reached is going to contain elements that are detrimental to our economy," Jindal wrote Thursday in an opinion piece published by Politico. "Elections have consequences, and the country is going to feel those consequences soon."
More Fiscal cliff deal down to wrangling over details - CNN.com
The five counties have median household incomes that are roughly double the national median of $50,502. Loudoun County, Va., which lies to the north and west of the District of Columbia, topped the list in 2011, with a median family income of $119,525, according to the U.S. Census Bureaus Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), released Wednesday. It was followed closely by Fairfax County, Va., which had a median income of $105,000.
Howard County, Md., which is located between Washington and Baltimore, and includes the city of Columbia, Md., was fourth-highest at $99,000. Arlington County, Va., which lies directly across the Potomac River from the District of Columbia, was fifth on the list, at $98,000. Montgomery County, Md., which stands at the top of the diamond-shaped District of Columbia, fell to eighth on the list.
Four of the remaining five Top 10 counties are in the New York City metropolitan area. Only one county in the Top 10 lies outside of the Eastern Seaboard: Douglas County, Colo., is situated between Denver and Colorado Springs.
Heres the Top 10 Counties with the Highest Median Family Incomes:
Asked if Democrats would be willing to go further than the $600 billion in entitlement cuts that President Barack Obama has proposed, Pelosi said that discussion should "be left until next year." "I mean if you're collecting trophies, and if you want the scalp of seniors before you will touch one hair on the head of the wealthiest people in the country, then what's the discussion about?" Pelosi asked.
She said serious negotiations about economic security for senior citizens and families require a longer conversation about where we have to go. "I have said over and over, if you want to talk about Social Security, having it on the table its on its own table." She added that any savings in Social Security should be used to strengthen the life of the program not to give a tax cut to wealthy people and call that deficit reduction.
Pelosi was equally strenuous in her defense of Medicare: "As I have said, don't even think about raising the Medicare age," Pelosi said at Thursdays news conference. We are not throwing America's seniors over the cliff to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America."
But when it comes to other things, such as higher tax rates for the wealthy, Pelosi said Republicans should go to the table, then negotiate. House Republicans have insisted that entitlements be on the table, proposing raising the eligibility ages to obtain deficit reduction and avoid the programs becoming insolvent.
Pelosi: GOP Wants 'the Scalp of Seniors' Before They'll 'Touch One Hair on the Head' of the Wealthy | CNS News
