President Barack Obama today is continuing to drive his central message on the fiscal cliff negotiations on Washington – namely the need to extend middle class tax cuts. This morning, the President will be joined by middle class Americans who have shared stories of how failure to extend the tax cuts – which expire at the end of the year along with the entire Bush tax cuts package.
While the President makes his appeal, negotiations continue in Congress. Today on NOW we’ll be joined by Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), whom the Washington Post says “may be the most powerful senator a whole lot of people have never heard of outside of the two Washingtons where she lives and works.” Murray, who is set to take control of the Senate Budget Committee when current chairman Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) retires in January, has suggested that going over the cliff on December 31 could increase Democrats’ leverage in negotiations. As the Post explains, “suddenly, Congress would be voting to lower taxes for the vast majority of Americans, rather than agreeing to raise them for a few.”
So, will it work? What are the risks? And most importantly, will the White House go for it? We’ll ask those questions and more when Sen. Murray joins us at noon ET on NOW.
PANEL
Eric Bates, Executive Editor, Rolling Stone
Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), NBC News Political Analyst (@govedrendell)
Rana Foroohar, Asst. Managing Editor, TIME (@ranaforoohar)
McKay Coppins, BuzzFeed (@mckaycoppins)
GUESTS
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Budget Committee (@pattymurray)
Sasha Isenberg, Author, “The Victory Lab”
REPORTER
Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News (@aymanm)
Dax Tejera