Iowa Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron, says he looks for a tough fight with President Obama and Democrats over the expiring tax breaks as they work to deal with the deep spending cuts that are scheduled to hit in January.
“They have proposed going back to the tax brackets that we had during Bill Clinton, so that would be letting them all increase. I think he’s going to run a very, very tough bargain,” King says. “I think he’s got the cards now to play them that way.”
King expects concessions will eventually be made to reach an agreement, but he isn’t predicting what those might be. “I think he’ll be positioning himself to if we hit the fiscal cliff, blame it on us, so that will cause House Republicans to think about that, they won’t want to take the blame,” King explains.
“And the president knows that, and I think the push back is going to cause some concessions. It doesn’t mean that I’m going to make any, it’s just going to be a really tough negotiation.” King also believes that Congress will be able to either finalize a Farm Bill before adjourning, or lay the foundation for good bill for the new session that begins in January.
By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City