Fiscal cliff: House GOP sends Obama counteroffer

http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/fiscal-cliff-house-gop-sends-obama-counteroffer-84522.html?hp=t1_3

In the latest in a tit-for-tat between Capitol Hill and the White House to avert the fiscal cliff, House Republican leaders sent President Barack Obama a $2.2 trillion counteroffer on Monday — but it doesn’t hike tax rates on the wealthy or deal explicitly with tricky issues like the debt ceiling and the sequester.

After days of Democratic criticism that they lacked a plan, the Republican leadership endorsed a framework first outlined last year by Erskine Bowles, a Democrat who led the president’s debt reduction committee.

The proposal, unveiled by senior GOP aides Monday during a briefing in the Capitol, assumes $800 billion in fresh governmental revenue through tax reform, $600 billion in health savings and changes to an inflation formula that determines benefit levels across government programs, including Social Security.

There’s also $600 billion in other savings, split evenly between mandatory and discretionary spending.

this looks mysteriously like the reverse of the Pres.'s offer. he told them what he would not sign they send him a script from SNL and it's rejected they knew it would be ho w much of our money did they spend to pull off that no brainer. do you really have to ask who is not serious?

 Politically, the counteroffer helps Republicans blunt a White House talking point that the GOP didn't have a plan of its own — a criticism that grew louder after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivered a plan to congressional leaders last week.

Second, the party is publicly stating its desire to make significant benefit changes to entitlement programs like Medicare, which is more than the White House has been willing to do. Top Democratic negotiators on the Hill have been waiting for a proposal on entitlements.

they obviously didn't have a plan too busy trying to make Pres. look bad. this is the Pres. plan in reverse they stole it and instead of changing numbers the idiots reversed them, we can see they are the same just different places. serious right.