'White House Quells Talk of New Tax Cuts'

Given how slow the recovery has been, we should at least try to maintain the fiscal stimulus we have. And if we can help middle class households a bit at the same time, so much the better. Unfortunately:

White House quells talk of new tax cuts, by James Politi, FT: The White House has sought to damp speculation it is considering new tax cuts for the middle class, as it comes under pressure from fellow Democrats to limit the economic damage from the expiration of the payroll tax cut at the end of the year.

The expected increase in payroll tax would be one element of the “fiscal cliff” ... that would shrink the disposable income of middle-class American workers. One option for Barack Obama would be to propose new temporary tax breaks for the middle class, which would go a long way towards easing those concerns.

However, such a move would probably face resistance from Republicans...

I guess that settles it. There's no way to use the fact that Republicans are proposing tax cuts for the wealthy while resisting a tax cut that helps the middle class to any political advantage. Republicans would resist, so why bother?