Boehner: Debt deal will include new tax revenues - Political Hotsheet - CBS News
House Speaker John Boehner addressed one of the biggest sticking points for the 12 member Congressional "supercommittee" today, acknowledging that any bipartisan agreement will need to include some new tax revenue.
"I think there is room for revenues, but I think there clearly is a limit to the amount of revenues that are available," Boehner told reporters.
The comment was significant because Boehner and other Republican leaders have repeatedly insisted that tax increases are off the table, and most Republicans in the House and Senate have signed a "taxpayer protection pledge" vowing not to raise taxes.
That pledge was devised by Americans for Tax Reform, an advocacy group run by Grover Norquist, whom Boehner dismissed as "some random person in America" when he was asked about Norquist today. Later in the day, Boehner revised his comments.
"What I was attempting to do," he said, grinning, "was to suggest that Mr. Norquist, like millions of Americans, believes that raising taxes is not good for our economy."
"I understand that the (Democrats) are desperately trying to grasp at every straw that Republicans will raise taxes," Norquist said. "The Republicans are not going to raise taxes."
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