President Obama Signals The GOP May Cave On Taxes As Talks Hit An Impasse

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

From NBCPolitics.com:

"President Barack Obama on Wednesday suggested that some Republicans had begun to soften their opposition to increased tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, but sharply warned the GOP against looking to tie their budget fight to an upcoming debate over whether to increase the debt ceiling.
Speaking in Washington before a group of corporate leaders, the president suggested some rank-and-file GOP lawmakers might relent in opposing increased income tax rates for the wealthiest earners, meaning Washington is closer to an agreement on the fiscal cliff than principal negotiators' public comments might suggest.
“I think there's a recognition that maybe they can accept some rate increases as long as it's combined with serious entitlement reform and additional spending cuts. And if we can get the leadership on the Republican side to take that framework, to acknowledge that reality, then the numbers actually aren't that far apart,” Obama told members of the Business Roundtable this morning. “Another way of putting this is, we can probably solve this in about a week. It's not that tough. But we need that conceptual breakthrough that says we need to do a balanced plan; that's what's best for the economy; that's what the American people voted for; that's how we're going to get it done.” Talks toward resolving the fiscal cliff, the combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect on Jan. 1, seem to have hit an impasse after House Republicans and Obama each offered countervailing proposals to address the looming combination."