Obama, in Scranton, assails tax breaks for billionaires

SCRANTON, Pa. - A feisty President Obama warned that the economy would suffer a "massive blow" if Republicans block his proposal to extend an expiring payroll-tax cut, rallying supporters at a campaign-style rally in this iconic blue-collar city.

"Are you going to cut taxes for the middle class and those who are trying to get into the middle class or are you going to protect massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires?" Obama told a cheering crowd in the gym at Scranton High School. "Are you going to ask a few hundred thousand people who have done very, very well to do their fair share or are you going to raise taxes for hundreds of millions of people across the country?"

There is some GOP support for extending the payroll tax measure, though the president and Democrats are pushing for the cut to be higher. "In all likelihood we will agree to extend the current payroll tax relief for another year," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said.

"We're going to continue to seek common ground on this issue," Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said Wednesday. "There is no debate though about whether these extensions ought to be paid for," he added.

The rub, of course, is disagreement over how the cost of the tax cut extension will be offset in the budget. The White House and congressional Democrats want to increase tax rates on those making more than $1 million a year, and Republicans say that will crush job creation in small businesses.

"We're going to continue to seek common ground on this issue," Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said Wednesday. "There is no debate though about whether these extensions ought to be paid for," he added.

Last year, Obama and Congress agreed to reduce the payroll tax paid by workers for Social Security by 2 percentage points, to 4.2 percent of income up to 106,800. If Congress does not extend it by Dec. 31, it will expire, raising taxes on many workers. Many economists say that poses a threat to growth because consumers will have less money to spend.

Republicans have criticized Obama for his intense schedule of politically-themed travel to battleground states heading into his reelection year, suggesting that the president is more interested in saving his own job than in creating them for the nation.

The Scranton stop will be Obama's 56th visit to a swing state this year, the third of his presidency. A Wall Street Journal report recently found that Obama has traveled far more to these politically crucial states than President George W. Bush did in 2003, the year before his reelection campaign. (49 events in 34 days).

Obama attended 54 events in 11 battlegrounds over 42 days as of Nov. 17, according to a database maintained by a Naval Academy political scientist who studies the politics of presidential travel.