FISCAL CLIFF

House GOP Still Won’t Raise Taxes

Boehner says “no mandate” for a tax increase.

President Obama had better prepare for a spirited debate on taxes, because the renewed GOP majority in the House of Representatives still doesn’t want a tax increase. House Speaker John Boehner insisted on Tuesday that the “American people want solutions—and tonight they’ve responded by renewing our majority. With this vote, the American people have also made clear that there is no mandate for raising taxes.” One political scientist theorized that only a “looming catastrophe” would cause the GOP to support raising taxes and that the party will also be emboldened on entitlement reform. “If I am a conservative Republican, I take this as an indication that entitlement reform is not necessarily a killer issue,” he said.