Fairfax, Virginia (CNN) -- President Barack Obama lashed out at congressional Republicans again on Monday, telling a group of northern Virginia residents that a GOP push to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for voters making over $250,000 is unaffordable.
His administration is "in this wrestling match" with the GOP leadership over whether to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cutes for the richest Americans, Obama said. Doing so would cost another $700 billion "and we just can't afford it," he declared -- a slap at Republican cries for fiscal responsibility.
The president made his remarks during an appearance at a private home in the Washington suburbs of Fairfax County.
He appeared with, among others, Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly, a first-term Democrat in the midst of a tough re-election fight.
Democratic congressional leaders agree with Obama that tax relief should be extended only to those making $250,000 or less, but Republicans have argued that taxes shouldn't be raised on anyone -- including the wealthy -- while the economy is weak.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" that he would vote for extending the tax cuts only for the middle class if that was the only option he had but that he would do everything he could to extend them for everyone.
A growing number of congressional Democrats have said they agree with GOP leaders that Congress should, at a minimum, pass a temporary extension of the tax cuts for wealthier Americans until the economy improves.
Republicans have been hammering Democrats in recent weeks over the country's near double-digit unemployment rate and growing public angst over the strength of the economic recovery.
GOP leaders allege, among other things, that the Democrats' controversial $862 billion stimulus plan ballooned the federal deficit while failing to adequately restore job growth.
Top Democrats have complained that congressional Republicans are blocking new economic growth measures -- including a small-business assistance bill -- for purely partisan reasons.
Asked by one Virginia resident if he could find any common ground with what appears likely to be a more conservative, Republican Congress starting next January, Obama cited the issues of energy, immigration and long-term debt control.
"We do have a very real problem with debt and deficits," the president said. There are "legitimate fears" about whether "we're hocking our future."