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Rep. Gingrey: Fiscal cliff deal does 'very little, if anything, about cutting spending'
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer last night, Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist said that the Senate’s plan to raise taxes on those earning $400,000 or more does not violate his anti-tax pledge.
Ali Velshi asks Rep. Phil Gingrey, who has signed the pledge, about Norquist's support of the fiscal cliff deal brokered by Vice President Biden and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Early Start this morning.
"I guess Grover could say that theoretically we've gone over the cliff. So, everybody's taxes have gone up, at least for 12 hours, and a vote would be actually a vote to lower taxes for everybody under $400,000," Gingrey says. "But I'm just not sure the people in the 11th district of Georgia will see it that way. I'm concerned that they will think that this is just more smoke and mirrors and Congress pulls these stunts all the time."
Gingrey also explains that while he thinks it's too early to commit to a definitive vote on the measure, he thinks the bill looks like it's raising revenue, but doing "very little if anything about cutting spending."
"At one point in this business of living to fight another day, you have to dig in your heels, and say by golly, I'm going to die over this today because it's important to the people of my district and this country," Rep. Gingrey explains.
Top political newsmakers to watch in 2013; BuzzFeed's Political Editor McKay Coppins shares his list
The 2012 election may be over, but speculation over 2016 has already begun. A recent CNN poll showed Hillary Clinton well above all other potential names. But who else is a rising political star to watch out for in 2013? McKay Coppins is the Political Editor of Buzzfeed.com. While most of us made a list of New Year’s resolutions, he comes to the studio with today his list of top newsmakers to keep an eye out for in 2013.
House may vote on Senate approved fiscal cliff bill unamended; Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA): 'this will pass'
All eyes are on the House this morning. Shortly after ringing in the New Year and plunging off the fiscal cliff, the Senate voted on a plan to avert it. But the question of 2013 is whether the House will follow suit. Congressman Jason Altmire is a Democrat from Pennsylvania. He's a Blue Dog Democrat, and therefore a fiscal conservative. Altmire, who is considered to be one of the most independent voters in the house, has crossed party lines before and is willing to do so to work with getting stuff done. He's also retiring at the end of this session. We hear from him live from D.C. this morning.
Rep. Altmire confidently says he will vote for the Senate approved fiscal cliff bill if it comes to the floor unamended. "I think you will get most all Democratic votes on the house, if they allow it to come to the floor. I think half the Republicans, maybe slightly more. This will pass if they allow it to come up to a vote.”
Ron Meyer, American Majority Action Spokesperson, criticizes Senate approved fiscal cliff deal & Grover Norquist: 'Grover Norquist’s power…just Washington created'
This morning, we wait with bated breath to see if a fiscal cliff deal worked out between Vice President Biden and Senate Republicans can pass the House later today. Ron Meyer is Spokesperson for the conservative group, American Majority Action. Long critical of how Boehner has been handling fiscal cliff negotiations, his group has suggested that Speaker Boehner resign for proposing his Plan B. Meyer weighs in live from D.C. this morning.
Meyer had correctly predicted very early on that the House would not pass Speaker Boehner’s Plan B measure. He offers his ideas about whether the bill that passed the Senate last night will pass the House this time around. “It could pass the House, but it definitely doesn’t have the majority of the GOP caucus right now,” Meyer says. He predicts that “at least 100 Republicans...will vote against this if they bring it up as proposed by the Senate.”
Meyer also speaks about the impact this fiscal cliff deal will have on young Americans who will feel the consequences down the road. “For people who actually care about saving my generation from a huge amount of debt, this bill is a complete joke,” Meyer says. “That's one of the things where I think House Republicans get it, where at least I mean the majority of our caucus gets it, where we're going to stand up against this plan because it's bad for young people, bad for our future. It's bad for the rest of America too.” Meyer believes a core group of Republicans will defend the idea that “this plan is gonna hurt and bankrupt our generation…and try to get a real solution done.”
Meyer also criticizes Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, for his role in the fiscal cliff talks. “He endorsed Plan B. And guess what?” he asks. “We shot it down. We had more than 50 Republicans against that bill. Grover Norquist’s power…it’s just Washington created. It’s media created.” Meyer further says the idea that Norquist is “some sort of magician behind the curtain is an absolute fallacy.”
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