Boehner: Anything Less Than Up-Or-Down Vote On Full Extension Of Bush Tax Cuts ‘Unacceptable’

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
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House Minority Leader John Boehner is demanding an up-or-down vote on a complete extension of all the Bush tax cuts — but he won’t say what Republicans will do if Democrats buck him and try to let the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire.

“The Speaker should pledge to the American people…that there will be an honest, up-or-down vote on stopping all of the coming tax hikes,” Boehner told reporters today. “Anything less than that is unacceptable.”

The statement suggests that Republicans would issue protest votes against legislation if it doesn’t call for an across the board freeze of income tax rates. That would be a departure from his eyebrow-raising statement last Sunday. But when TPM followed up to ask if Republicans would oppose President Obama’s proposal — to have one vote on middle class tax cuts, and one vote on tax cuts for the wealthy — Boehner demurred.

“I don’t want to get into a bunch of hypotheticals,” Boehner said. “Republicans in the House and Senate are united that this is not the time to increase taxes on anyone in America.”

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