Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says John Boehner should grab the life-line Mitch McConnell just tossed him.
“I agree with Senator McConnell and the many other Republicans who have spoken up in recent days that the most reasonable path forward is for the House of Representatives to pass the Senate’s bipartisan agreement immediately, to make sure that middle-class families do not wake up to a tax increase on January 1st,” Reid said in an official statement. “Once the House passes the Senate’s bipartisan compromise to hold middle class families harmless while we work out our differences, I will be happy to restart the negotiating process to forge a year-long extension…. Now, it is important that we now hear from Speaker Boehner in light of Senator McConnell’s comments.”
Boehner and GOP payroll tax negotiators are meeting as of this writing to mull McConnell’s proposal — we should know what they decide very soon.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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