Joseph Malloy III, left, and John Dodds, right, with the Philadelphia Unemployment Project demonstrated as Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., center, speaks during a news conference at the 30th Street Station Monday, Nov. 26, 2012, in Philadelphia. Casey announce a planned Joint Economic Committee hearing on the impending "fiscal cliff" of massive tax hikes and spending cuts to take effect in January if Congress doesn't head them off. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
In a Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks at the election night party at McCormick Place, in Chicago. President Barack Obama will make his first public comments Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 since the victory speech after his re-election, using his speech to set the tone for upcoming tense talks with congressional Republicans on avoiding the so-called "fiscal cliff" ó a combination of deep spending cuts and the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts that will take effect Jan. 1 and threaten to pull the country back into recession. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, talks about the elections and the unfinished business of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. The first post-election test of wills could start next week when Congress returns from its election recess to deal with unfinished business ó including a looming "fiscal cliff" of $400 billion in higher taxes and $100 billion in automatic cuts in military and domestic spending to take effect in January if Congress doesn't head them off. Economists warn that the combination could plunge the nation back into a recession. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
In this Oct. 25, 2012, file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks during a news conference with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, not seen, at the Pentagon, in Washington. President Barack Obama and Congress have just a few weeks to figure out how to avert the automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs totaling $110 billion next year. Those reductions are part of the so-called fiscal cliff of expiring Bush-era tax cuts and the across-the-board cuts that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has warned would be devastating to the military. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke addresses a luncheon gathering of The Economic Club of New York, in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012. Bernanke on Tuesday urged Congress and the Obama administration to strike a budget deal to avert tax increases and spending cuts that could trigger a recession next year. Without a deal, the measures known as the "fiscal cliff" will take effect in January. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., Pennsylvania Democrat (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Alan Krueger, right, accompanied by ... more >As the debate intensified, Mr. Obama was undercut somewhat by a wealthy ally, billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Mr. Buffett, who supports raising taxes on people such as himself, broke with the White House by writing in an op-ed in The New York Times that everyone who makes under $500,000 should continue to pay the lower tax rates enacted under President George W. Bush.
“Let’s forget about the rich and ultrarich going on strike and stuffing their ample funds under their mattresses if — gasp — capital-gains rates and ordinary income rates are increased. The ultrarich, including me, will forever pursue investment opportunities,” Mr. Buffett wrote.
Mr. Carney said Republicans’ discussion of raising substantial revenue through closing loopholes and limiting tax deductions “is not necessarily realistic.”
“I think there’s a growing consensus … that we have to do this in a balanced way, and that revenue has to be part of it,” Mr. Carney said.
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Dave Boyer is a White House correspondent for The Washington Times. A native of Allentown, Pa., Boyer worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 2002 to 2011 and also has covered Congress for the Times. He is a graduate of Penn State University. Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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