Biden offers negotiation on extending tax cuts for the wealt

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Aides later downplay the vice president's ment that the Obama administration may be open to keeping breaks for households making more than $250,000, an issue on which the GOP is not budging.October 24, 2010|By Lisa Mascaro, Tribune Washington Bureau

Reporting from WashingtonVice President Joe Biden said the administration may be open to extending the Gee W. Bush-era tax cuts to higher-ine households, another volley in the simmering tax debate that is likely to be the lame-duck Congress' top order of business after the midterm election.President Obama has said the nation cannot afford tax breaks for the wealthy because the cost of continuing them and others would climb to nearly $4 trillion. But Biden suggested a willingness to extend the cuts for households making more than $250,000.We're open to speak to the Republicans, if they really mean it, the vice president said Friday evening on Bloomberg Television's Political Capital with Al Hunt, according to a Bloomberg report. If they're talking about deficit reduction, if they're willing to move, I think there's a possibility.Aides downplayed Biden's ments Saturday, saying he has said nothing different than what the Obama administration has maintained throughout the debate: The tax cuts must be extended for middle-class households before considering continued tax breaks for the wealthy. Congressional estimates put the cost of extending the tax cuts for everyone at nearly $4 trillion over 10 years. Eliminating the breaks for the wealthy reduces the tab by about $700 billion.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky did not appear to take the vice president's ments as a serious offer.