WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will enter high-stakes budget negotiations firmly committed to seeing the tax rates for high-income earners rise to pre-George W. Bush levels, he assured a gathering of progressive and labor leaders on Tuesday.

"I am not going to budge," he told the group, according to an attendee who relayed material from the meeting on condition of anonymity. "I said in 2010 that I'm going to do this once, and I meant it."

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment, but two other sources who attended the meeting confirmed the quote. The administration seems to have staked out a firmer position than during the first stand-off over the Bush-era tax cuts, in November and December of 2010, leaving the impression that it won't sign off on a compromise that doesn't increase the tax burden on the wealthy as a means of paying down the deficit.

How the president plans to effect that outcome is still unclear. Top Democrats in the Senate have said they would be comfortable letting all the tax rates expire -- as they are scheduled to do -- at the end of the year, after which they will put together a tax cut bill that would re-establish the Bush-era rates for incomes below $250,000.

Several sources at the meeting said the president was, as one noted, "more nuanced than going off the cliff." Obama hopes to place "maximum pressure on House Republicans so at the end of the day he may be able to budge them," the source added.

"It seemed like he meant it," the first source said. "That suggests that they are ready to go over the ledge."

Following the meeting, a handful of attendees spoke briefly to the press, praising Obama for vowing to firmly oppose an extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy.

"It was a very, very positive meeting," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "We're very committed to making sure that the middle class and workers don't end up paying the tab for a party that we didn't get to go to, and the president is committed to that as well."

"The president was really standing firm on taxes," said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress. "Everyone in the room talked about how much they have the president's back in this fight."

The expiring Bush-era tax cuts are just one component of a larger budget deal that needs to be hammered out with congressional Republicans, the details of which remain unclear. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney ducked a question during Tuesday's press briefing as to whether Obama would be willing to put cuts to entitlement benefits on the table in negotiations with Republicans. Instead, Carney pointed to the $340 billion in savings from entitlement reform already in Obama's plan.

The first source said that the president "seemed to agree that Social Security" should not be part of any grand bargain because it "didn't add to the deficit."

Carney also left the door open to the idea of raising the threshold for extending the Bush-era tax cuts to $500,000 or $1 million. Obama drew the line at $250,000 in his proposal.

"He is not wedded to every detail of that plan," Carney said, when asked specifically if Obama would be willing to raise the limit.

In the process of putting together a far-reaching piece of legislation, the president will have the help of the progressive community's political arms. All of the meeting's attendees pledged to keep their election-season campaign apparatuses intact for purposes of drumming up support for the president's budget priorities.

Obama asked the attendees to focus their efforts on pressuring House Republicans to reach an agreement on the tax cuts, reminding them that the American people made clear in last week's elections that they want to see the wealthiest pay more in taxes, according to a source familiar with what was discussed at the meeting.

AFSCME president Lee Saunders, who attended the meeting, said his members are prepared to devote as much energy to pressuring Republicans to reach a balanced debt deal as they put into the campaign season.

"We're going to have our folks engaged, just like they were in the election," Saunders said. "They're going to be engaged in this campaign."


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Updated at: 0350 PST, Friday, June 26, 2009

LOS ANGELES: Pop giant Michael Jackson, who took to the stage as a child star and set the world dancing to the thumping rhythms of his music in the 1970s, died on Thursday, online website reported. He was 50.

The website reported that Jackson suffered a heart attack just after 12:00 pm (1900 GMT) local time and paramedics were unable to revive him.

Jackson's manager Tohme E. Tohme was not immediately available for comment when contacted by media. Officials at UCLA Medical Center where Jackson was treated also could not be reached for comment.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Devin Gales would not confirm Jackson's identity but said paramedics went to an address corresponding to the star's home at 12:21 pm (1921 GMT) and the person was taken to UCLA Medical Center.

An unidentified family member earlier told TMZ -- the first outlet to report that Jackson had suffered a cardiac arrest -- that the star was in "really bad shape."

Michael's father Joe Jackson told E! Online he was aware of the emergency but did not know further details.

"I am in Las Vegas, but yes, people in Los Angeles called me and are with Michael and tell me he was taken to the hospital," he said. "I am not sure what's wrong. I am waiting to hear back from them."

The reports came as Jackson prepared to make a keenly anticipated concert comeback in London, his first series of shows in more than a decade and the first since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges.

However those concerts -- billed as the "final curtain" -- had been thrown into doubt after Jackson pushed back the opening dates last month.

Organizers of the concerts had stressed the delay was not linked to Jackson's health.

Promoters and producers AEG Live said the rescheduling was done because of the "sheer magnitude" of the show and the desire for fans attending the opening nights to get the same experience planned for all 50 shows.

In a press conference from the United States broadcast over the Internet, AEG Live president Randy Phillips was asked about Jackson's health and said: "I would trade my body for his tomorrow. He's in fantastic shape."

While Jackson reigned as the "King of Pop" in the 1980s, his once-stellar career had been overshadowed by his colorful public behavior, his startling physical transformation and multiple allegations of child abuse.

Jackson lived as a virtual recluse following his 2005 acquittal on charges including child molestation and plotting to kidnap his young accuser.

Despite his acquittal, the trial was a body blow from which the pop music superstar struggled to recover.

Four years later, Jackson is still worshipped by fans for revolutionizing music, dance and music videos at the peak of his success.

The attention however paid to him in recent years has been less flattering, focusing on apparent cosmetic surgery -- which he denies -- his baby dangling antics and a decade of swirling child abuse allegations.