WASHINGTON ( AP) — Aiming tax increases at millionaires and companies that ship jobs abroad may help frame the fairness theme of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, but it’s a plan that stands virtually no chance of passing Congress.
Republicans have enough votes in the GOP-run House, and almost certainly in the Democratic-controlled Senate, to kill Obama’s proposals. They say his ideas would discourage investment and job creation and further hurt an already ailing economy.
“He’s got to know that none of those things he proposed really have much of a chance of going through both houses of Congress,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
“I don’t think he’s intending on passing any laws this year,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “He’s in a campaign. That was his re-election speech.”
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