Obama criticizes McCain on taxes

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that Sen. John McCain reversed his position on President Bush's deep tax cuts in order to win the Republican presidential nomination, one of his sharpest criticisms yet of the Arizona senator he hopes to face this fall.

Criticizing GOP efforts to extend major tax cuts from Bush's first term and to eliminate the estate tax, Obama said: "These are all steps that John McCain rightly said were irresponsible when they first came up."

"He made a decision to reverse himself on that," Obama told reporters as he flew from Chicago to Washington for a series of Senate votes on budget issues.

"That was how, I guess, you got your ticket punched to be the Republican nominee," he said of McCain. "But he was right then, and he's wrong now."

McCain has said he supports extending the tax cuts, which he initially voted against, because the economy is struggling and tax reductions offer some stimulus.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in a statement that if Obama is nominated, "the American people will have a clear choice: John McCain will cut taxes while Senator Obama will raise them, hurting our economy and costing jobs for hardworking Americans."

Obama has proposed an array of subsidies for higher education, health care and other costs hitting middle-class families. He said he believes he can pay for such plans by closing tax loopholes, placing a new tax on carbon emissions, phasing out the Iraq war and ending the Bush tax cuts for the nation's highest earners.

"We have identified the cuts that we think are available, or the changes in our tax code that are available to pay for our middle-class tax cut as well as our proposals to fund higher education and so on," the Illinois senator said.

He said, however, "There will be a lot of special interests and lobbyists that will resist the kinds of changes that I've proposed."

Asked if he would scale back his agenda if some of his proposed tax increases fail, Obama said, "I am a strong believer in pay-go," a term for avoiding new deficits by paying as you go. "So adhering to pay-go means that if I couldn't find the revenues or reduce spending in other areas, then I couldn't pay for my proposals."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_...n&printer=1

[no name 1]

Can I play too?

McCain: Obama and Clinton wasted hundreds of millions

Posted: 11:21 AM ET

CNN

Watch McCain's comments Thursday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – John McCain left the campaign trail Thursday to return to the Senate to vote for a bill that would place a one-year moratorium on earmarks, money that is tacked onto bills by legislators for pet projects.

“I believe we must end this process, which has diverted billions in taxpayer dollars to needless projects, once and for all. If voters give me the pen, I will veto every single pork-barrel bill Congress sends me,” McCain said in a statement.

The Arizona senator blasts excess spending every step of the way on the campaign trail and though Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will join him in voting for the measure, McCain criticized their past use of earmarks.

“They have used earmarks and some of them in a manner I don’t that think taxpayers would at all approve of,” McCain told CNN. “It’s hundreds of millions of dollars, taxpayers’ dollars, that are absolutely outrageously wasted.”

McCain urged Obama and Clinton to be more transparent and reveal the earmarks they’ve asked for, saying it’s likely much of that money hasn’t been spent yet and can be recuperated.

“I call on them to say ‘hey, don’t spend that money,’ because they’re earmarks, they didn’t go through a proper process and taxpayers can’t afford it.”

All three senators running for president are back in their day jobs on Capitol Hill Thursday for the first time in about a month.

[little white guy 0]

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that Sen. John McCain reversed his position on President Bush's deep tax cuts in order to win the Republican presidential nomination, one of his sharpest criticisms yet of the Arizona senator he hopes to face this fall.

Criticizing GOP efforts to extend major tax cuts from Bush's first term and to eliminate the estate tax, Obama said: "These are all steps that John McCain rightly said were irresponsible when they first came up."

"He made a decision to reverse himself on that," Obama told reporters as he flew from Chicago to Washington for a series of Senate votes on budget issues.

"That was how, I guess, you got your ticket punched to be the Republican nominee," he said of McCain. "But he was right then, and he's wrong now."

McCain has said he supports extending the tax cuts, which he initially voted against, because the economy is struggling and tax reductions offer some stimulus.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in a statement that if Obama is nominated, "the American people will have a clear choice: John McCain will cut taxes while Senator Obama will raise them, hurting our economy and costing jobs for hardworking Americans."

Obama has proposed an array of subsidies for higher education, health care and other costs hitting middle-class families. He said he believes he can pay for such plans by closing tax loopholes, placing a new tax on carbon emissions, phasing out the Iraq war and ending the Bush tax cuts for the nation's highest earners.

"We have identified the cuts that we think are available, or the changes in our tax code that are available to pay for our middle-class tax cut as well as our proposals to fund higher education and so on," the Illinois senator said.

He said, however, "There will be a lot of special interests and lobbyists that will resist the kinds of changes that I've proposed."

Asked if he would scale back his agenda if some of his proposed tax increases fail, Obama said, "I am a strong believer in pay-go," a term for avoiding new deficits by paying as you go. "So adhering to pay-go means that if I couldn't find the revenues or reduce spending in other areas, then I couldn't pay for my proposals."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_...n&printer=1

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