As Talks Begin, Obama Said to Offer Medicare, Social Security Cuts

Democrat, was quoted in the Times report saying, “Depending on what they decide to recommend, they may not have Democrats. I think it is a risky thing for the White House to basically take the bet that we can be presented with something at the last minute and we will go for it.”

And while Boehner may have signaled a willingness to compromise—he is reported to have initiated the secret meeting—others in his party continue their adamant stance not to raise taxes. Also, despite the meeting, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, asked to comment, said only that “there are no tax increases on the table.” Boehner himself may be delivering mixed messages to the president, since the speaker’s aides also said no tax increases were on the table and that he had not agreed to allow any tax cuts to expire.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., did seem open to the possibility of closing loopholes, but not to an increase in tax rates or collections. “If the president wants to talk loopholes, we’ll be glad to talk loopholes,” he told reporters in the Post. “We’ve said all along that preferences in the code aren’t something that helps economic growth overall. But listen, we’re not for any proposal that increases taxes, and any type of discussion should be coupled with offsetting tax cuts somewhere else.”

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said that Cantor’s willingness to consider closing loopholes without raising taxes elsewhere was meaningless. “It is like taking one step forward and then two steps back,” he said. “The point isn’t to get rid of these loopholes simply to pay for new tax breaks elsewhere. It’s to do it in a way that contributes to the reduction of the debt.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., however, insisted that changes to the tax code should only be made in a broader income tax reduction and not as part of debt negotiations. “To sort of cherry-pick items in the context of this current negotiation with the White House strikes me as pretty challenging,” he said in the report, saying once more that any tax increases would cause job losses. “We want to tackle deficit reduction in a way that doesn’t exacerbate unemployment.” The tie between tax increases and job losses is tenuous at best, according to historical statistics.