Really an indefensible opposition by the House Repubs. At least they are classy about it... <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wV71OKdEqRI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Nothing like walking off before letting the opposition say something. The Dems and the Repub Senators are against the House Repubs... Even the WSJ is against them... This is actually bad news for Dems because after this is passed, the House Repubs are going to gather up in a little pity party and collectively throw another temper tantrum because those mean bullies Obama and Reid made them do something they didn't want to do. Who knows what damage that will do. Oh, for a sane Republican Party... and to think there was a time when that was not an oxymoron.
even tho the senate GOP is laughable..the republicans in the house are just beyond anything comparable...
Is the payrol tax bill stand alone as one piece or does it have some questionable riders attached to it???
What bill doesn't have riders on it? The important point here is that you had the speaker of the house okay with the bill as it passed through the Senate with bipartisan support (vote of 89-10 or something). Then, house republicans all of a sudden decide to use this to play dirty politics. I guess senate repubs are cut from a different cloth than house repubs?
I understand what the GOP did, they will dodge a vote to avoid any substance that can go against them in reelection year. But, I believe if that payroll tax bill was by itself with no riders it will easily pass.
I agree it would easily pass. But a bill without riders will never make it to the floor for vote in the first place. This is on both sides.
From what I understand, they planned to object to it not having a rider forcing Obama to decide on the XL Pipeline in 60 days. But, the Senate put that in, so they had to cast about for a new reason object and settled on the fact that it is only a very short extension and not a year-long one. If there was a noteworthy rider to complain about, I'm sure they would have done that instead of making this lame complaint about the length. I actually agree that doing only 2 months is stupid, but we know that's not the real reason they won't vote on it. And, they really are cornered on this one -- they'll catch the flak if nothing passes, not Obama and not the Senators. They should stop digging.
The House GOP party line (led by Boehner) is that a 2 month extension is "simply kicking the can down the road" and they want a full year extension. I totally see where they are coming from on that... But if this doesn't happen, the GOP will take a big political hit. Also - the addition of the Keystone XL decision in 60 days basically seems like a political play to me. Pres. Obama will simply say that 60 days is not enough time to approve the decision and will say "no-go" - then the GOP will paint Obama as a non-job creator leading up to Nov. 2012... My assumption is that this won't happen by 12/31 and taxes will go up - but in January a full year extension will be passed retroactive back to 1/1/2012 and all will be forgotten...
One important rider is paying for it. A lot of dispute on that issue. Additionally, the other riders killed it. Boehner is most at fault, but everyone in Congress has some blame for not forcing this much earlier. Why procrastinate with tax issues?
Karl Rove's take on how republicans can save face. Karl Rove Concedes House GOP Blew It On Payroll Tax “I think the Wall Street journal editorial today hit it on the nail,” Rove said Wednesday on Fox News. "The question now is how do the Republicans get out it? And there is only one way to get out of it. And that is, stay in Washington. Wait until President Obama gets on an airplane and heads to Hawaii and then hold a session of the House, vote the two month extension, and use it as an opportunity to beat up on the now long-absent Democrats and Harry Reid and the absent President and say, look, this is going to cause … not be good for the companies that have to write the paychecks because we have heard from the people who process payroll checks that this is gonna be a problem, and it is not good for the American people because we’re only giving them a two months not a year’s worth of confidence. Use it for political theater and then vote the extension and get out of town. They’ve lost the optics on it and the only way to win it is to just stick there and ruin their own Christmases and wait until the President heads off to Hawaii and then lambast the Democrats for having abdicated their responsibility to pass a year-long tax cut."
As a Texas state employee, because our checks go out on the 1st, we were informed today that our taxes go up on our January paycheck due to Congress inaction. Our payroll system can not wait and has to assume the rate increases. Thanks to the party of No.
Why are you attempting to use facts in response to a Karl Rove statement that is embedded within a thread about the GOP? I worry about you sometimes.
That is great, but too late to stop the January paychecks for nearly every state employee from being lowered. For budget purposes, the state could not assume the extension would be passed and risk overpaying state employees. With 16,000+ employees, they could not wait or all of our checks would have been late. Many of us have automatic withdrawals for bills that would have caused a real burden.
And a month ago republicans wanted the extension to expire. they were against it before they were for it
Because they attached junk they knew wouldn't pass the Senate, and then asked the Senate GOP to fix it for them, and then turned on the Senate GOP after they sorted out a solution that Boehner requested.
