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 Willing To Listen But Not Reconsider - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 3/5/09 — Friday, March 06, 2009 —  MR. GIBBS: Jake.Q Senator Baucus, who obviously will play an important role in the formulation of health care policy, said that he has concerns, it's an issue, the tax increase that you guys are proposing when it comes to itemized deductions. You've said everything is on the table when it comes to health care. Are you willing to consider a different revenue stream than that tax increase to fund health care? MR. GIBBS: Well, I do think all issues are on the table. Obviously that was a major -- a major part of the event today, and the ideas that we hope will be gathered from it. Let's, though, just discuss the -- I assume you're talking about the charitable contribution -- Q The itemized deductions for mortgage and -- MR. GIBBS: I mean, a middle-class family donates a dollar to charity, they get 15 cents off their income tax; Bill Gates donates a dollar to charity, he takes 35 cents off his income tax. The proposal that the White House has would simply reduce those levels to the same levels that we saw during the Reagan administration. So I think certainly that's important to understand. But the broader issue of whether all ideas are on the table I think is one that the President brought to this and wanted to hear -- wants to hear from all of those involved as to what their ideas are. I think it's going to be important to have that free flow and that exchange of ideas, to have this debate in an open and transparent way. Q So you're willing to reconsider -- MR. GIBBS: Well, I think the President is correct in saying that he's listening to all the ideas that people bring to the table. Charity | Health Care | President Obama | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | Taxes | White House Press Corps Labels: Charity, Health Care, President Obama, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, Taxes, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:48 PM
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