Republicans scoff at White House’s ‘fiscal cliff’ opening bid

Bolstered by his reelection, President Barack Obama on Thursday made a detailed opening bid to Congressional Republicans for canada goose women outlet  averting the so-called fiscal cliff -- the mix of tax hikes and deep spending cuts that risk plunging the economy into a new recession come 2013. Republicans flatly rejected the offer, which mostly repackaged Obama's previous budget and jobs-creation plans while looking to avoid future fights over raising the country's debt limit.

Obama's proposal, delivered by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to Republican House Speaker John Boehner,  canada goose outlet online called for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenues over 10 years plus some $400 billion in savings in popular entitlement programs including Medicare, the government health care plan for seniors. It also included some relief for Americans hit by the home foreclosure crisis and an extension of both the payroll tax holiday and unemployment **istance.

The package also includes a roughly $50 billion jobs plan, mostly infrastructure spending.

The White House is using the blueprint to address the canada goose cheap t** issue of hiking the federal debt limit.

Right now, Congressional approval is required before the federal debt ceiling can be raised. Opposition to boosting the debt limit by many Republican lawmakers in 2011 brought the U.S. government close to default. Still smarting from that debacle, the White House wants to give lawmakers the right to block a debt increase rather than vote to approve it.

The offer landed with a thud  canada goose sale on Capitol Hill, where Republicans bluntly rejected it and expressed shock that the president would essentially stick to the plan he trumpeted starting in September 2011 and all through the campaign. It includes tax increases on the richest Americans, something Republicans have publicly refused to approve.

"I remain hopeful that productive conversations can be had in the days ahead, but the White House has to get serious," Boehner told r canada goose women jacket eporters. "This is not a game. Jobs are on the line. The American economy is on the line. And this is a moment for ** leadership."