There is no doubt they will push for this. This is their starting place in negotiations. The only question is will the portion of the Republican party that views it as their end place as well win the battle leading up to the debt negotiations. We're either going to see another epic showdown, or a much less dramatic compromise. Either way, the end result will be expiration of tax cuts for upper earners, -it's just a question of how close to the cliff will the push it. If they push it to the cliff, we're going to get 4 more years of the same behavior we are used to, and voter approval of the House will plummet (almost impossibly) even lower, -not that anybody there cares one whit. Also, Obama will not blink on this one. I'm calling that right now and I'll take any odds.