As Politico reports on the latest phone call between President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), says the President is “posturing” and that “we haven’t even seriously negotiated yet.”
Baucus, as Chair of the Finance Committee, is expected to play a critical role in any fiscal cliff negotiations.
BAUCUS: “I think there’s a pretty good probability that we will get enough passed to essentially avoid this thing called a cliff. We won’t get it all done, I don’t expect. Some of it will get carried over till next year.”
“There’s a lot of posturing going on right now, both sides, that is- President on one hand, Speaker on the other. And I don’t blame them at all for that, because it’s sort of initial negotiations. Actually they’re just initial talks, we haven’t even seriously negotiated yet.”
Click below to listen to audio of Sen. Baucus’ remarks during an interview with Scott Fredricks on Newstalk 730 KYYA:
Click to Listen
From Politico Playbook:
EXCLUSIVE: President Obama and Speaker Boehner had a “curt” telephone conversation about the cliff yesterday. Boehner wants POTUS to move off of his position on rates, and POTUS won’t move. POTUS keeps saying he has laid what Republicans call his $1.6 trillion revenue plan on the table. And if Boehner has an alternative, he should say it rather than talking about non-specific revenues and entitlement cuts.
Charles Krauthammer tells the GOP not to cave on taxes: