Mike Johanns: There's a "change in mood" in the Senate GOP on tax hikes

Another Republican senator has opened the door to tax increases on high earners as a way to pay for a payroll tax cut, showing more movement in the party ranks after resistance all year to tax increases.

“I sense a change in mood,” Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska, said Wednesday. “It’s a little more bipartisan. My position has always been, ‘Let’s not raise taxes,’ but on the other hand, I don’t want our country to collapses under a mountain of debt. If that means compromise, I am going to do everything to get that done.”

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said Tuesday that she had formulated a plan to pay for the extension of a payroll tax holiday for American workers with a tax increase on high earners that carved out employers, so they would not be hit with higher rates.