Rebecca Thiess of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute lobbed a harsher critique, saying Pelosi’s high-profile endorsement of the $1 million figure is indication that “the Democratic leadership is now comfortable perpetuating the notion that taxpayers earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual income deserve a tax cut.

“Policy-wise this is definitely not something we want to see at all,” Thiess said. “The middle class has become completely lost in this debate; the conversation has now shifted to which strata of the very wealthy deserve a hefty tax cut.”