President Obama, amid charges of class warfare, pushed Monday for a tax hike on families earning more than $250,000 -- and an extension of the Bush-era tax rates for families making less than that. 

The president, speaking in the East Room of the White House, said he wants to break through the "stalemate" over taxes in Congress. He argued that sustaining the current tax rates for top earners puts too big a hole in the federal budget, saying "we can't afford to keep that up." Obama called on Congress to extend those rates, for one year, for families earning less than $250,000 -- failure to do so, he said, would be a "blow" to families and a "drag" on the economy. 

"We don't need more top-down economics," Obama said. "We need policies that grow and strengthen the middle class." 

The president urged Congress to pass a bill that deals with the middle-class tax rates only, and then move on to a separate debate over extending the rates for top earners. Obama, though, made clear he is adamantly opposed to doing so.