Summers Won't Say If Bush Tax Cuts Will Be Repealed

4732106On CBS' Face The Nation this morning, host Bob Bob Schieffer asked Lawrence Summers, the incoming director of the National Economic Council, whether the administration of President-elect Barack Obama will move to repeal so-called Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

During his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama suggested that he would repeal the tax cuts soon after coming into office. Recently, however, his administration has signaled that it will simply let the cuts expire as scheduled at the end of 2010, citing the need not to increase taxes during a difficult economic time. The cuts benefit Americans making more than $250,000.

Summers declined to clarify how the administration will proceed.

"The Bush tax cuts, as you know Bob, are scheduled to expire in two years in any event, just by law," Summers said. "Just what the timing will be is something that's going to be worked out."

Pressed by Schieffer, Summers again said the question of repealing the tax cuts is "something that will get worked out in the legislative process."

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been "urging" Mr. Obama to repeal the cuts, reiterated her position on "Fox News Sunday" this morning.

"I don't want them to wait two years to expire because they have to prove their worth to me," she said, noting that Democrats campaigned on promises to repeal the cuts.