Page 6 - It Lapse News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Saying this -- calling this a -- a tax increase if they let it lapse. you didn't hear many democrats talking about it. i think the main reason that they -- they don't want fica taxes to get so low that people get used to paying an amount that can't fund the social security trust fund. it's odd because of all the things we discussed in the fiscal cliff. >> yeah. >> most of them wish use that might affect economic growth in the future. this was a tax that, according to most people rating it, was worth about 0.8 points of economic growth, and they -- no one talked about it. >> few were talking ab...

>> it is a great point. and you know one of the understated aspects of this whole negotiation process is how much unemployment insurance, the payroll tax cut, and infrastructure spending has kept the white house at the table. the administration wants those three things. now they have gone away from the payroll tax code a little bit. but they want the economic stimulus, they know there is an advantage to it. once they're done, once you pass the cliff how much are they going to fight for them? obviously there was a point in the president including in his pare down today, unemployment insurance. ...

Reduction in the amount of taxes that come to social security is one thing. paying for it, we have so much waste in washington to take ten years to pay for it is ridiculous. >> chris: let me follow up for a second. a good policy or not, haven't democrats turned the table on you? i mean here is a situation where you would be perceived if you let it lapse that they are proposing a tax cut for the middle class and republicans are opposing it. >> i don't think so. i'm all for changing the tax code. i have demonstrated that the game, the political gotcha game they are playing on this. one example. ...

Reduction in the amount of taxes that come to social security is one thing. paying for it, we have so much waste in washington to take ten years to pay for it is ridiculous. >> chris: let me follow up for a second. a good policy or not, haven't democrats turned the table on you? i mean here is a situation where you would be perceived if you let it lapse that they are proposing a tax cut for the middle class and republicans are opposing it. >> i don't think so. i'm all for changing the tax code. i have demonstrated that the game, the political gotcha game they are playing on this. one example. ...

>> reporter: rob marciano, let's see if he can hear us. here's in long beach and they're seeing intense wave action. rob, can you tell us? >> reporter: i can't hear the program, so just tell me when to go. >> reporter: anderson, long beach, the winds remain the same and if anything have picked up. irene continues to roll this way. irene is still a hurricane, although you would describe it as a minimal hurricane. i have been in a lot of minimal hurricanes, and it's a still a hurricane. we're taking damage on the boardwalk right now as water continues to fall in. it's tough to see with...