'Tis the season for spreading holiday cheer and, this year, urgent messages about the "fiscal cliff."
President Obama, Republican lawmakers and an army of independent advocacy groups have mounted an aggressive new public campaign to highlight the stakes in a deal to avoid an economically toxic package of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts could take hold in 35 days.
The push has all the makings of a political campaign -- coming just three weeks after Election Day -- but with the nation's debt taking center stage instead of an individual candidate.
President Obama is accelerating outreach to key constituencies to shore up support for his on wealthier Americans coupled with cuts to government spending.
The president will today host a private White House meeting with 15 small-business leaders, including the founder of an airplane crop-duster manufacturer from Texas, a music store owner from St. Louis and a local beer brewer from Wisconsin.
The president will hold an event Wednesday to highlight the stories of Americans who wrote to the administration online about the importance of extending the Bush-era tax cuts for middle-income earners, and how going over the "cliff" and letting rates rise might adversely affect them.
Obama then hits the "campaign trail" Friday for a rally at a toy factory outside Philadelphia, taking his case directly to the people on the importance of averting the "fiscal cliff" for buoying consumer confidence and purchasing power during the holidays.
"Hearing from [voters], hearing their voices and hearing their priorities is essential to helping compel this process forward," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday.
Roger Wollenberg/Getty Images
The House returns to session today, but there are still no plans for the "Big Four" -- Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- to reconvene for face-to-face discussions, according to a top congressional aide.
White House and congressional staffs continue to meet on a daily basis, while an aide to the speaker said the top House Republicans are meeting privately today.
Pressure from the White House and public opinion, however, is unlikely to easily sway House Republicans, most of who have vowed to reject any tax increases and would almost certainly draw a primary challenge if they wavered.
"The target of the president's rallies should be the congressional Democrats who want to raise tax rates on small businesses rather than cut spending," House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement.
Obama insists that income tax rates should rise on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and families making more than $250,000, or the top 2 percent of Americans. Republicans remain staunchly opposed to increasing rates.
Boehner and other party leaders have expressed willingness to raise more revenue, coupled with overhauling entitlement programs, but they say it should be done by closing tax loopholes and capping deductions while decreasing net tax rates themselves.
Boehner and House Republicans plan to meet with former Clinton White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and members of the "Fix the Debt" coalition Wednesday, his office said. The Ohio congressman will also meet with an array of business leaders and CEOs.
Many House Republicans also plan to take their case against a tax rate increase on the road, planning public events in their home states and visits to small businesses, according to a Boehner spokesman.
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy also announced this afternoon that the House Republican leadership will meet with small-business owners in his office Dec. 5 to discuss "solutions that will most effectively spur economic growth and create an environment to get more Americans back to work."
"Small businesses are the engine of our economy," McCarthy, R-Calif., said. "These businesses employ the majority of Americans and will be the most adversely affected by an increase in tax rates. The Democrats' obsession with punitive tax increases isn't a solution. It's an ideological fixation that seeks to elevate Government at the expense of freedom, opportunity and the pursuit of the American dream."
Meanwhile, an army of independent interest groups have also begun adding their voices to the debate, running TV and radio ads, posting billboards and gathering signatures in online petition campaigns.
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