Dec 09 2010

All Out Congressional War?

It looks like all out war has just been declared on Capitol Hill and not by the Republicans, although they continue to lob their missiles at anything Democratic. Are the House Democrats, at last, taking a stand against Reagan/Bush/Obamanomics?

First up, 54 House Democrats have sent a letter telling President Obama that they cannot accept his capitulation compromise bill with the hostage takers Republicans in its current form.

House Democrats Voice Opposition to Tax Cut Deal

In a closed door caucus meeting on Thursday morning, House Democrats voted to reject the tax cut deal between the White House and Congressional Republicans “as currently written.”

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in a statement after the vote said changes would need to be made to the bill before she allows it to come to the floor for a vote.

“In the caucus today, House Democrats supported a resolution to reject the Senate Republican tax provisions as currently written,” Ms. Pelosi said. “We will continue discussions with the President and our Democratic and Republican colleagues in the days ahead to improve the proposal before it comes to the House floor for a vote.”. . . . . .

“House Democrats share the president’s commitment to providing the middle class with a tax cut to grow the economy and create jobs,” Ms. Pelosi said. “The House passed a bill last week to provide tax cuts for all Americans but not a bonus tax cut to millionaires and billionaires. The extra tax cut for the top 3 percent does not create jobs and increases the deficit. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans blocked the bill from being approved by the Senate.”

Ms. Pelosi added, “Democratic priorities remain clear: to provide a tax cut for working families, to create jobs and economic growth, to assist millions of our fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and to do this in a fiscally sound way.”

The President continues to tout that this bill will create “millions of jobs”. Really? When in the last 10 years have these tax cuts created one job? This is just more trickle down, voodoo economics. Obamanomics.

The economy will move “backward” if lawmakers don’t approve a deal to extend tax cuts for the rich in exchange for more unemployment benefits, President Obama said Thursday.

“Every economist that I’ve talked to or that I’ve read over the last couple of days agrees that this agreement will boost economic growth over the next couple of years and has the potential to create millions of jobs,” Obama said at a meeting with his Export Council.

Families will welcome tax cuts in their paychecks in January with the deal, Obama said, warning that “if this framework fails, the reverse is true.” He added, “Americans would see it in smaller paychecks that would have the effect of fewer jobs.”.

The vote on the Dream Act and the Defense Authorization Act which contains the repeal of DADT have also been postponed by Majority Leader Reid.

With time running out on the lame-duck session of Congress, the Senate Wednesday postponed a vote on the controversial immigration bill known as the DREAM Act and didn’t take up the Defense Authorization bill, which includes an amendment aimed at repealing “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also announced postponement of plans to consider a measure to provide health care compensation to 9/11 first responders. The DREAM Act and 9-11 measure will be taken up Thursday.

“We sometimes run into roadblocks in the Senate,” Reid said, as he explained that a scheduling conflict with the House delayed the DREAM act vote. The House passed the DREAM Act late Wednesday by a vote of 216 to 198.

This morning the Republicans blocked the 9/11 Health Bill as well as Workers’ Rights, Social Security cost of living and Mine Safety Bills.

If the President thinks for one minute that giving the Republicans while they hold the majority of the country hostage, he’s either a fool or a liar. I believe he’s the latter and a bad one at that.

arlethamaselli0

6 comments

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  1. Question: Is this just a fit of peak by the House Democrats? Or are they finally standing up to the hostage takers?

  2. How does it feel to be so fucking wrong?

    It’s listening to the Clintonista/Rubenites that have screwed things for Democrats.

    Electoral Victory my ass.

  3. It would seem the Tea Party is quite upset about this tax bill, too. From TPM:

    Tea Party Patriots Reject Tax Cut Deal, Call For It To Be Destroyed

    It seems President Obama’s deal with Republicans on tax cuts has done something few may have thought possible: united the most progressive wing of the Democratic party with the most conservative of the Republicans.

    In an email dispatched just minutes ago, the national office of Tea Party Patriots — the largest umbrella for grassroots tea party groups in the country — is calling on its millions of members to bombard Republicans on Capitol Hill with pleas to shut down the tax cut deal which House Democrats rejected earlier today.

    “‘The Deal’ or ‘The Tax Deal’ as it is becoming known around the country between President Obama and Congressional Leadership is problematic,” TPP’s national coordinator team writes in the message. “This is a deal that needs to be opposed.”

    The Patriots leadership says the deal violates several tenets of the “Pledge To America” Republican leaders presented by incoming House Speaker John Boehner and other House leaders back in September. One purpose of the pledge — like so much of what the Republicans did on the campaign trail this year — was to show a unity of purpose with the fired up tea party base.

    Two Houses divided it appears.

  4. From Jon Walker at FDL on the craven obstruction of the Republicans and the cowardice of the Democrats and the Vice President.

    My anger is not just for the obstructionist Senate Republicans, but also falls on the spineless Senate Democrats.

    In almost any other sane legislative chamber, a mere 57% majority would be enough to pass a bill. There is absolutely nothing stopping Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and 49 other Senate Democrats from taking 10 minutes to use a ruling from the chair to kill the filibuster and pass this bill. Senate Democrats-if they really wanted to-could pass this bill right now, regardless of how Republicans vote. Reid could take to the floor and declare “I will not allow Senate Republicans to crucify these American heroes on this cross of broken Senate procedure.”

    Once again, Senate Democrats actually had the choice of protecting the ridiculous, broken rules of their chamber, or helping people in serious need. Sadly, like with every other fight this year, they showed what they most care about is the silly rules of their clubhouse.

  5. Senators to Offer New Repeal of “Don’t Ask” Following Senate Defeat

    Senate Republicans turned down the attempt to move ahead with the bill that would have repealed the ban on gay troops serving openly in the military. The vote was 57-40, almost entirely along party lines, and three short of the 60 needed.

    The vote was a setback to President Obama and the Democratic leadership, who have made repealing the Clinton-era policy a key priority. And it short-circuited the efforts of a handful of Republicans who said they supported a repeal but wanted more time to negotiate the process of the voting.

    The lawmaker leading that effort, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, voted in favor of the motion but was not joined by any of her colleagues. Ms. Collins and independent Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut announced shortly after the vote their intention to introduce a new bill.

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