Obama says he, GOP can find common ground on tax cuts

President Barack Obama suggested in a televised interview Sunday night that he and a resurgent House GOP could find common ground over the fate of Bush-era tax cuts, even as Republican leaders vowed they would not compromise on the issue.

On CBS News' "60 Minutes," correspondent Steve Kroft asked Obama about a compromise Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) offered in September.

Boehner, expected to be the next speaker of the House, suggested keeping the cuts for the wealthy in place for two years while rolling back discretionary spending to levels before the 2008 federal bailout of the economy.

"I think that when we start getting specific like that there's a basis for a conversation," Obama told Kroft.

Obama wants to see a permanent extension of the tax cuts, set to expire at the end of the year, on household income of less than $250,000 a year.

In recent days, Republican leaders have indicated little interest in any compromise that would roll back the Bush-era cuts on incomes of more than $250,000 per year.

While Obama made clear he was open to a dialogue with the GOP leadership, he also said that his top priority is to ensure that "middle class families don't see their tax rates go up January 1."

"I am interested in finding a way where they can meet their principles," Obama said of Republicans, "and I can meet mine."

Rep. Eric Cantor of Virgina, the No. 2 House Republican, said on Fox News Sunday that the GOP would not go along with Obama's "expansive liberal agenda."

"I really want to see that we can come together and agree upon the notion that Washington doesn't need more revenues right now," he said.

Cantor's comments follow recent remarks by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that the GOP's primary aim should be to ensure that Obama is a one-term president.

The sides are to meet at the White House before a lame-duck session of Congress that convenes later this month to debate the fate of the tax cuts and a new spending bill.

With The Associated Press

and CBS News