Obama: Tax deal 'by no means perfect'
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday urged Congress to adopt the compromise tax plan he reached with Republicans, even though it is "by no means perfect."
In his weekly radio and Internet address, the president said if Congress doesn't act on extending tax rates enacted early in the administration of former President George W. Bush, "tax rates will automatically go up for just about everyone in our country. Typical middle class families would end up paying an extra $3,000."
"That's unacceptable to me," Obama said. "Not when we know that it's the middle class that was hit the hardest by the recession. And not when we know that taking this money out of the pockets of working people is exactly the wrong thing to do to get our economy growing faster. Economists tell us that this tax hike on working families could actually cost us well over a million jobs."
Obama said the framework he and Republicans agreed to is "a good deal for the American people," because it extends tax cuts for the middle class and benefits for long-term unemployed Americans. He said "with millions of people looking for jobs, it would be a terrible mistake to end unemployment insurance -- not only for people who are out of work, but for our entire economy."
"So we hammered out a deal that reflects ideas from both sides," he said. "It wasn't easy, and it's by no means perfect."
Obama said "the vast majority of the tax cuts in this plan will help the middle class, including a new cut in payroll taxes that will save the average family about $1,000." The president said the plan would "help millions of families to make ends meet" and also contains "tax relief for businesses … making it easier for them to invest and expand."
"So I strongly urge members of both parties to pass this plan," he said.
GOP lauds tax-cut extension progress
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Republican Party's weekly radio and Internet address Saturday credited the Obama administration for its bipartisan flexibility on extending tax cuts.
Rep.-elect Kristi Noem, R-SD, called President Barack Obama's apparent willingness to extend tax cuts to middle and high income earners for two years after Jan. 1 "encouraging" and a "good first step," The Hill newspaper reported.
However, Noem said the cuts implemented in the George W. Bush administration weren't enough to revive the economy.
"With unemployment still rising, the number one thing our family-owned small businesses need right now is certainty," she said, adding there is a "job-killing uncertainty hanging over our employers and entrepreneurs."
Noem also reiterated Republican opposition to the Democrats' healthcare bill passed earlier this year and said the party, now with a senate majority since November midterm elections, planned to supplant it.
"Once we repeal this law, we can replace it with commonsense reforms that lower costs for families and small businesses," Noem said.
Vatican, Irish church tensions revealed
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The Vatican and Ireland had a diplomatic spat over an inquiry into priests' alleged sexual abuse of children, U.S. embassy documents published Saturday showed.
The intelligence observations from U.S. diplomats in Dublin said the Irish government granted diplomatic immunity last year to Vatican officials from testifying about allegations of a Catholic church cover-up with regards to sex abuse claims, The Guardian reported.
The Irish inquiry was examining claims that 320 people alleged sexual abuse of children between 1975 and 2004 by priests in the Dublin archdiocese. As part of the probe, Vatican officials were asked to give testimony, prompting a diplomatic quarrel, U.S. documents posted on the WikiLeaks site said.
The Vatican, as a sovereign state, maintained "foreign ambassadors are not required or expected to appear before national commissions," and the inquiry proceeded, the newspaper said.
Regardless, Pope Benedict XVI rebuked the Irish Catholic leadership in March for their management.
"Grave errors of judgment were made and failures of leadership occurred," the pope said. "All this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness."
Alaska judge declares Murkowski the winner
KETCHIKAN, Alaska, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- An Alaska judge has ruled that U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski won re-election fair and square, dismissing a challenge by the official Republican candidate.
Superior Court Judge William Carey gave Joe Miller a short deadline Friday for appealing to the Alaska Supreme Court. The judge stayed his order until declaring Murkowski the winner until Tuesday, Dec. 13, and it is unclear whether he meant Monday, Dec. 13, or Tuesday, Dec. 14.
Murkowski, seeking a second term in the Senate, lost the August Republican primary to Miller, a Tea Party favorite endorsed by former Gov. Sarah Palin. She then ran as a write-in candidate, winning by about 10,000 votes.
Carey said Miller presented no evidence to back up his claim of election fraud. He also said election officials used the correct standard when they accepted ballots where Murkowski's name was misspelled but she was clearly the intended choice.
The judge also said Murkowski would still be the winner if all ballots challenged by Miller were disallowed.
A federal judge has ruled Murkowski cannot be certified as the winner while the legal challenge is still open. Murkowski, who remains a Republican, has said she might lose her seniority if she is not sworn in with the new Congress.
Randy DeSoto, a Miller spokesman, said he is still trying to decide whether to appeal Carey's ruling, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
