Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs aboard Air Force One en route Cleveland, Ohio

1:12 P.M. EDT

MR. GIBBS:  All right, fire away.

Q    Mr. Boehner has come out with a proposal that would freeze taxes at their current level and put spending at 2008 levels.  What’s the administration’s response?  Is that something you can at least work with?

MR. GIBBS:  Well, I want to be clear.  I’ve heard Congressman Boehner on many, many occasions talk about making the tax cuts for the upper end, for the wealthy, permanent.  That’s his plan, and I think that continues to be his plan.  You’re going to hear the President talk about the fact that giving a $100,000 tax break to a millionaire, at a cost of $700 million for 10 years, that’s not getting our fiscal house in order.  We can’t afford that.  That’s what the President will talk about today. 

And again, I continue — I saw part of what Congressman Boehner said on TV.  My question, I guess, for him is, are they abandoning the permanent or are they going to — are they just doing a two-year proposal?  I’ve seen him say permanent so many times I tend to believe that’s what he’s working off of.

Q    Is the President willing to compromise at all on the tax cuts?  There seems to be some question.  On the upper-income tax cuts, would he –

MR. GIBBS:  You know, look, I’ve been with the President since he ran for the Senate in 2004 and we were asked if we supported the middle-class cuts in 2004, and the President said yes.  Our position has been — and we’ve talked about this for many months — and that is keep the tax cuts for the middle class who are struggling in this economy and, quite frankly, were struggling before the economy collapsed in September of 2008.  Their wages had gone down; their hours had gone up for many, many years.  The President will discuss that today.

But we are facing a budget deficit that is not going to be fixed by handing out $700 billion to the wealthy.  That’s what the President — that’s the President’s position on this and that’s what he’ll talk about today.

Q    That is — what?

MR. GIBBS:  Our position is tax cuts for the middle class