WASHINGTON ? Hell, no!
Top Senate Republicans yesterday bucked President Obama?s call to soak the rich with higher taxes on the eve of a critical White House meeting today over the economy with the top four congressional leaders.
The senators slapped back at Obama?s brazen statement on Wednesday that the GOP must march in lockstep with him to raise taxes on the wealthy ? to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff ? because he won the election.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), recently elected the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, had a one-word response to Obama?s demand: ?No.?
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DON?T PUSH IT: John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate?s second-ranking Republican, flat-out rejects raising tax rates.
?The president is over-reading his mandate. He ran a better campaign than Mitt Romney. That?s the only mandate,? Cornyn said. ?It?s time to pivot away from campaigning and start governing.?
The talks today are the first of a series of crucial exchanges between the parties as the nation hurdles toward the fiscal cliff of $700 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts that go into on Jan. 1 unless Obama and Congress reach a debt-reduction compromise.
Economic analysts contend the combination of massive tax hikes and spending cuts will wreck the economy and result in a recession.
Obama wants to let the Bush-era tax cuts for those making over $250,000 expire, and has planted his feet firmly on a stance he campaigned on. Republicans have talked in conciliatory tones, but remain steadfast in their positions that the Obama demand on raising tax rates is a deal breaker.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who will be at the White House confab today, blasted Obama on the Senate floor yesterday. He said Obama is listening to extremists on the left who want the country to go over the fiscal cliff.
The tax increase on the rich will bring in $849 billion over 10 years while the government is running $1 trillion annual deficits, Republicans said.
?The goal of these folks isn?t to do what?s best for the middle class. It isn?t to create jobs. It isn?t even to balance the books, since the taxes they?d hike wouldn?t even come close to covering current spending,? McConnell said. ?What they want is sock it to those who they define as rich, regardless of the impact on jobs or the broader economy.?
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) took to the floor to bash Democrats, saying business growth will be stunted by the move.
?Taxes have consequences. Taxes matter,? Grassley said.
Republicans have said they?d consider raising revenues through closing tax loopholes and limiting deductions, not raising rates.
The president also needs to get serious about addressing reforms to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the drivers of the deficit, Grassley said. Obama said he?s open to reining in the entitlement programs.
?All we hear about is what revenues Republicans are willing to put on the table,? Grassley said. ?We will not be able to reach an agreement if the other side continues to insist on punishing entrepreneurs and small businesses in the name of raising taxes on the so-called wealthy.?
Obama will meet today with McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
gshields@nypost.com
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