GOP must choose the lesser of its two evils

Democrats bet Republicans cave on taxes

By: Jake Sherman and Manu Raju, Politico.com
November 29, 2012 11:15 PM EST

Democrats are increasingly confident that rank-and-file Republicans will cave on taxes and force House GOP leaders to pass a tax cut plan for families who earn less than $250,000.

It’s a risky gambit with about a month before the country hits the fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts.

But Democrats, feeling like they have serious leverage, believe the only path for a deal is to pass a middle-class tax cut package to pave the way for larger fiscal negotiations in 2013 over taxes and spending.

“You can smell the winds,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), No. 3 in his party’s leadership, said Thursday. “When so many Republicans say, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to give into the Democrats,’ that’s how it works around here. That’s the beginning.”

(More here.)