Durbin presses party to deal on ‘fiscal cliff’

Democrat urges cuts; Obama, GOP take cases to public

WASHINGTON— Atop Democrat pressured fellow progressives Tuesday to consider long-term changes to the social safety net even as the party digs in for a fight to save Medicare and other government programs from deep budget cuts.

As closed- door talks continue with the hope of a year-end deal to avert the “fiscal cliff,” President Barack Obama will travel to a Pennsylvania toy store this week to pressure Congress to extend tax cuts for the middle class, while letting those for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans expire. Republicans are similarly taking their proposal of tax breaks for all on the road.

At the same time, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, tapped his ties to the liberal wing of the party to urge a broader deficit deal in 2013 that would include trims to Medicare and other entitlement cuts.

“We can’t be so naive to believe that just taxing the rich will solve our problems,” said Durbin, speaking at the Center for American Progress, an influential liberal group. “Put everything on the table. Repeat. Everything on the table.”

The assistant majority leader’s speech comes at a pivotal moment as the White House’s allies in the labor and progressive community have warned Obama not to cut Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs in talks with Republicans.

Progressive groups are targeting individual members of Congress, and labor leaders are flying in activists from around the nation to Capitol Hill this week to lobby lawmakers against cutting the social safety net.

A group of mostly nude activists from the AIDS awareness group Act Up protested at House Speaker John Boehner’s office Tuesday. Several were arrested.

“Working people, jobless people and retirees, who just voted for a middleclass economy, shouldn’t have to sacrifice their health care and retirement security so that the richest 2 percent can continue getting more tax breaks,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement.

The White House and Capitol Hill are seeking to prevent the combination of automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts scheduled to take effect at year’s end — what economists have warned would be a $500 billion hit to the economy that could spark another recession.

As Obama welcomed small-business owners to the White House and prepared to take his message on the road, congressional Republicans fought back with a campaign operation of their own.

Republicans say those at the higher tax brackets include small- business owners, and GOP lawmakers will be visiting such firms to make their case.

“The target of the president’s rallies should be the congressional Democrats who want to raise tax rates on small businesses rather than cut spending,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, R-Ohio.

Republicans are unwilling to consider a Senatepassed bill that would continue tax breaks for most Americans as they work to also keep tax rates low for those who earn more than $250,000 for couples, or $200,000 for single individuals.

Estimates are that 3 percent of small-business owners are among those in the higher income brackets.