House Republicans said their proposal is more realistic. House GOP sends Obama fiscal cliff counteroffer

In the latest in a tit-for-tat between Capitol Hill and the White House to avert the fiscal cliff, House Republican leaders sent President Barack Obama a $2.2 trillion counteroffer on Monday — but it doesn’t hike tax rates on the wealthy or deal explicitly with tricky issues like the debt ceiling and the sequester.

After days of Democratic criticism that they lacked a plan, the Republican leadership endorsed a framework first outlined last year by Erskine Bowles, a Democrat who led the president’s debt reduction committee.


( Also on POLITICO: Complete coverage of the fiscal cliff)

The proposal, unveiled by senior GOP aides Monday during a briefing in the Capitol, assumes $800 billion in fresh governmental revenue through tax reform, $600 billion in health savings and changes to an inflation formula that determines benefit levels across government programs, including Social Security.

There’s also $600 billion in other savings, split evenly between mandatory and discretionary spending.

“With the fiscal cliff nearing, our priority remains finding a reasonable solution that can pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed into law in the next couple of weeks,” stated the letter, which was signed by all seven GOP leaders.

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Politically, the counteroffer helps Republicans blunt a White House talking point that the GOP didn’t have a plan of its own — a criticism that grew louder after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivered a plan to congressional leaders last week.

Second, the party is publicly stating its desire to make significant benefit changes to entitlement programs like Medicare, which is more than the White House has been willing to do. Top Democratic negotiators on the Hill have been waiting for a proposal on entitlements.

The leaders didn’t get specific in their letter. In fact, they wrote that it “would be counterproductive to publicly or privately propose entitlement reforms that you and the leaders of your party appear unwilling to support in the near-term.”

But in the briefing, the Republican aides signaled that the party is certain to push to change the Medicare eligibility age and implement means testing for the program — two changes that the president privately endorsed during his 2011 debt limit negotiations with Boehner, but has yet to embrace during the latest round of talks.

The proposal also marks the first time Republicans have offered $800 billion in increased tax revenue that doesn’t rely purely on economic growth, which is a step in the Democrats’ direction.

But the Republican offer may do little to break the logjam because GOP leaders are standing firm against Obama’s foremost demand: eliminating the Bush-era tax rates on income above $250,000. Without any give on tax rates, there is no deal, the White House insists.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republicans say their proposal is more realistic. Obama essentially submitted his budget, while Republicans took a step back from Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) 2011 budget, Boehner said.

“We could have responded in kind” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said during a brief appearance at the briefing. “But decided not to do that. What we’re putting forth is a credible plan that deserves serious consideration by the White House. And I would hope that they would respond in a timely and responsible way.”

A senior aide said although the sequester isn’t discussed, there is “ample savings to deal with” the automatic spending cuts.

“[T]he Bowles plan is exactly the kind of imperfect but fair middle ground that allows us to avert the fiscal cliff without hurting our economy and destroying jobs,” the letter from speaker John Boehner and his leadership team said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised Boehner’s efforts in a statement Monday.

“While the president hasn’t moved an inch away from his efforts to please his radical left-wing base, the speaker has consistently shown a good-faith effort to find common ground and a realistic approach to solving the very real economic problems facing our country,” McConnell said. “These problems have only grown worse with the president’s refusal to lead and we’re running out of time — the country can’t wait another three weeks for the White House to respond substantively or seriously to this House proposal.”