Obama Tells House Democrats He Will Confront Republicans on Taxes

LANSDOWNE, Va. - President Obama vowed Thursday to confront Republicans over the issue of closing tax loopholes, saying that he would relish a debate with those who insist that Congress has done all it should to get more tax revenue from wealthy individuals and corporations.

Speaking to a group of House Democrats here who are gathering for a policy retreat, the president sounded defiant at times as he sketched out his positions ahead of the looming deadlines that will force Congress and the White House to negotiate a series of complicated fiscal deals in the coming weeks.

Mr. Obama said the key to avoiding the across-the-board spending cuts that would go into effect on March 1 was for Democrats and Republicans to resolve their differences over how to replace those cuts.

He went on to suggest that compromise must come rom Republicans.

“What they’ve suggested,” he added, “is that the only way to replace it now is for us to cut Social Security, cut Medicare and not close a single loophole, not raise any additional revenue from the wealthiest Americans or corporations who have a lot of lawyers and accountants who are able to maneuver and manage and work and game the system.”

“And I have to tell you, if that’s an argument that they want to have before the court of public opinion, that is an argument I am more than willing to engage in,” he said.

Mr. Obama’s comments followed recent statements! by top Republicans, including John A. Boehner, the speaker of the House, and Mitch McConnell, the minority leader of the Senate, that the question of taxes had already been decided. Republicans had to swallow a bitter pill last month in supporting the deal that averted the so-called “fiscal cliff” by, in part, allowing tax rates for people at the highest incomes to revert to higher, pre-2001 levels.

“The American people believe that the tax uestion has been settled,” Mr. Boehner said this week.

Congress and the White House have to decide how to deal not only with the automatic cuts, but also with the expiration of the nation’s debt limit - which they agreed last month to put off until May. Then on March 27, the stopgap measure financing the government expires, triggering another potential fight between Democrats and Republicans.

Mr. Obama spoke only briefly in his public remarks before reporters were ushered out of the room. He then met privately with House Democrats. According to one person who was in the room, the president told them, “Like it or not, we are joined at the hip.”