Lawmakers negotiate tax cuts as House plans vote

2010-12-01 13:28:00 PST Washington, , United States — (12-01) 13:28 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Republicans and Democrats worked Wednesday to find an agreement on extending Bush era tax cuts that expire at the end of the year, even as House Democrats planned a politically charged vote on a bill that would let tax cuts for the wealthy expire.

The White House, meanwhile, opened the door to a possible compromise that would extend all the tax cuts temporarily.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that President Barack Obama's main goal is to prevent a middle class tax increase. Obama's "other line in the sand" is that he won't support a permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthy, Gibbs said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Obama, meeting Tuesday with the top two Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, specifically voiced his objection to a permanent extension "to the wealthiest Americans.

"Having said that, we agreed that there must be some sensible common ground," Obama said.

That leaves open the possibility of a temporary extension of all the tax cuts.

Later, Gibbs declined to say whether Obama would support extending all the tax cuts for up to three years, which would push the issue beyond the next presidential election, in 2012.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Budget Director Jacob Lew met Wednesday with a group of four lawmakers from both parties to negotiate a deal on tax cuts. After two hours, they emerged from a closed-door meeting to say only that they would meet again later in the day.

"No surprises," Geithner said after the morning meeting. "We went through everything on the table, and we agreed we were going to come back this afternoon, late in the day and continue the conversations."

Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress want to extend tax cuts for individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000. Republicans and some rank-and-file Democrats want to extend the tax cuts for everyone.

Making tax cuts permanent for middle- and lower-income taxpayers would add a little more than $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Making them permanent for high earners would require an additional $700 billion in federal borrowing, according to congressional estimates.