The White House appears to be ignoring a vote today by House Democrats to oppose the tax cut deal struck earlier in the week between President Obama and Republican leaders in Congress.
What began on Wednesday as an effort to showcase bipartisan support for the deal, announced by Obama during a news conference on Monday, has morphed into an onslaught of emails put out by the White House communications office to members of the press.
Thanks to the parade of emails, we now know that Mayors from cities such as Los Angeles, Memphis, St. Louis and Detroit all support the tax agreement, as do the Governors of Pennsylvania, Vermont, Florida and Kansas.
Yet the administration’s intense messaging campaign was not enough to stop House Democrats from voting almost unanimously on Thursday to oppose the deal. Afterwards, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters that she is committing at this point to doing nothing more than “continuing discussions” on the tax cuts.
Following the vote, however, the White House issued more emails, declaring that the tax deal had the blessing of the Mayors of Minneapolis and Baltimore, as well as the United Auto Workers Union (UAW). White House press secretary Robert Gibbs defended the “barrage” of emails, telling reporters during his daily briefing that those who have expressed support for the deal “represent a lot of people.”
In addition, Gibbs signaled that the White House believes the compromise will still move forward.
“I think at the end of the day, this will get done,” Gibbs said. “Members are not going to want to be in their districts … when constituents find out on the first of January that their taxes have gone up by several thousand dollars.”
Gibbs noted that he has not yet heard if either Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have come forward with a politically viable alternative.
Correspondent Justin Duckham contributed to this report.