June 6, 2012, 11:06 AM

Summers Suggests Temporarily Extending the Bush-Era Tax Cuts

12:15 p.m. | Updated 
Confusing economic comments – first by former President Bill Clinton, then by Lawrence Summers, President Obama’s first National Economic Council director – have emboldened Republicans to press for the immediate extension of all of the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, with a claim that they have bipartisan backing.

On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program Wednesday, Mr. Summers, one of the president’s closest economic advisers, was asked about President Clinton’s comments on the tax cuts and the poor jobs report of last week. Pressed for his advice, he said: “The real risk to this economy is on the side of slowdown, certainly not on the side of overheating, and that means we’ve got to make sure we don’t take gasoline out of the tank at the end of this year. That’s got to be the top priority.”

The Bush-era tax cuts expire Jan. 1.

But Mr. Summers, in a later statement, said he was not contradicting Mr. Obama, who has vowed to let tax cuts for the wealthy expire.

“I fully support President Obama’s position on tax cuts. I have often said and continue to believe that promoting demand is the most critical short run priority for the American economy. Extending the high income tax cut does little for demand and poses substantial problems of fairness and fiscal prudence,” he said in an emailed statement.

Mr. Summers later in the MSNBC interview clearly supported tax hikes on the rich, but was less clear on the timeframe.

“You’ve got to look to the people who’ve gotten the most gains from the economy over the last 30 years, and who have also gotten the biggest tax reductions,” he said. “It’s not taking from them. It’s simply asking them to do their fair share at a time when the country has to pull together to work through some difficult problems.”

The back-and-forth over the Summers comments mirrored the flap over Mr. Clinton’s. In an interview on CNBC, Mr. Clinton appeared to say tax increases and Republican-led spending cuts should be temporarily set aside until the economy regains its footing. Those comments angered the Obama re-election campaign and were quickly followed by a retraction. A Clinton spokesman on Tuesday said the former president does not believe tax cuts for the wealthy need be extended.

Regardless of intent, the political damage may have been done. Public opinion polls have consistently shown strong majorities of Americans favor deficit reduction that includes spending cuts and tax increases on the wealthy. But Republicans, who oppose any tax hikes, are on offense – thanks in part to the mixed Democratic messages.

House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio cited both Mr. Summers and Mr. Clinton, who “came out for it before he was against it” in calling for the extension of all the tax cuts “for at least a year.” The Bush tax cuts expire on Jan. 1.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, said President Obama justified the extension of the Bush tax cuts for two years in December 2010 because of a struggling economy. At 1.9 percent, the growth rate in the first three months of this year was slower than the end of 2010, when the economy grew 2.8 percent.

“We have to do everything we can to grow this economy,” said Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader.

But Republicans gave no indication they are willing to cut a broad, anti-austerity deal that would include postponing deep spending cuts to domestic programs. Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority whip, said the government has grown enough. He added Republicans will not come to the table until they believe they have a White House negotiating partner.

“You need somebody on the other side who wants to make a deal, and the No. 1 way to do that is to put people before politics,” he said. “And this president this year has done nothing but politics.”