Yesterday, House minority leader John Boehner appeared on Face the Nation yesterday to announce that he is willing to work with the President to extend the tax cuts for the middle class and let expire the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Watch:



The conversation surrounding the so called Bush tax cuts began earlier this summer as a way for all sides to lay the ground work for the debate Congress in the lead up to the Midterm elections.  The way Mr. Boehner and his fellow Republicans are framing the issue is that it's a bad idea to let the tax cuts expire, even on the wealthy in the middle of a recession, favouring references to small businesses being the target of the tax increases.  From the Democratic point of view, the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy have a price tag of $700 billion dollars that would be added directly to the deficit amid growing fears that the national debt could very easily get out of control of the next few years.

The reality is that the tax cuts which were passed using reconciliation in 2001 and 2003, were never paid for, and the fact that they were passed using reconciliation meant that they would expire after a decade if Congress didn't vote to make them permanent.  Former White House economic guru Peter Orszag recently wrote his first op-ed after he stepped down from his position calling on Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts for two years and then let them all expire.

Regardless of the political rhetoric, this issue among many others, will sure to be a significant factor for voting intentions in November.  Talking Points Memo has a good article about the importance of voter enthusiasm for the upcoming election, which must have something to do with Rep. John Boehner's surprising offer to support the President's agenda for the very first time.  Republicans have consistently operated in almost unanimous opposition to the White House and Congressional Democrats agenda, but it seems to have been successful so far when you look at any recent polling data.  It appears that he's taking advantage of the the anger from independents by attempting to reach across the isle shortly before the elections.  However, it should go without saying that Republicans feel pretty good about the optics when taxes go up under Democratic governance, even though a Republican congress laid the groundwork for the expiration in tax cuts..

The Senate swings back into session today at 2:30 PM, so for those 5 or 6 C-Span junkies out there, get comfortable and enjoy the nerdiness.  I've heard rumours that the Senate will try to pass one bill per week before the session in suspended for the midterms, but it remains to be seen if the Bush tax cut issue will be resolved before or after the elections.