Obama Will Insist on Tax Hikes in Budget Deal

(CNSNews.com) - As part of the deal to end the government shutdown and extend the debt limit, the House and Senate have agreed to begin long-stalled budget negotiations. The conferees planned to meet Thursday morning for breakfast -- to "break the ice," the Associated Press reported.

Once the actual talks get underway, President Obama will insist that tax hikes be part of the solution.

"The president has insisted that in the budget negotiations that he's been calling for all year, everything has to be on the table. And that will be his position going forward," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Wednesday.

Carney said what Obama believes is fair is reflected in the fiscal 2014 budget proposal he's already submitted. At the same time, Carney said Obama knows that neither he nor anyone else will get everything they want in a final deal.

"And that's the nature of compromise," Carney said.

"But he firmly believes that balance, when it comes to further reducing our deficits and building on the work that has been done over these past four years in which we have reduced our deficits...by half, we need to continue to take a balanced approach so that no sector of society unfairly has to bear the brunt of that project. That's always been his position and it will be his position moving forward."

"Balance" to Obama means tax hikes.

Via: CNS News

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