At least if you consider this the way the Bush Campaign considers all of Kerry's actions... Well, at least the Administration is principled and doesn't let politics affect their decisions... _______________ White House Helps Block Extension of Tax Cuts By EDMUND L. ANDREWS WASHINGTON, July 21 - The White House helped to block a Republican-brokered deal on Wednesday to extend several middle-class tax cuts, fearful of a bill that could draw Democratic votes and dilute a Republican campaign theme, Republican negotiators said. The impasse was the latest sign of deep rifts among Republicans about budget issues. House and Senate Republicans had badly wanted to pass a popular tax-cutting bill before the Democratic convention next week. But in an improbable series of machinations, White House officials opposed the tentative deal worked out between House and Senate Republican leaders that would have extended the tax cuts for two years at a cost of about $80 billion. That left Republicans conceding that the tax-cutting effort is over, at least until Congress returns from its recess in September. The Republicans' inability to agree among themselves cost them the chance to highlight their link to tax cuts as the election season moves into high gear. At issue on Wednesday were three "middle-income tax cuts'' that were a central part of President Bush's tax packages of 2001 and 2003. The biggest was a $1,000 child tax credit, which will be reduced to $700 at the end of this year. The other two big measures set to expire are a reduction in the "marriage penalty," which pushes two-income families into higher tax brackets; and an expansion of the 10-percent tax bracket to cut taxes for more middle-income families. House Republicans and the Bush administration had sought to make those tax cuts permanent, but ran into Senate Republican moderates who wanted any more tax cuts offset by either spending cuts or tax increases elsewhere. On Tuesday night, after arduous negotiations, House and Senate Republicans thought they had reached a deal that would extend the tax cuts for just two years but not require that they be offset. White House officials, though, insisted that the tax cuts be extended for at least five years, without paying for them through either tax increases or spending cuts. House Republicans, who had originally sought a five-year extension as well, backed away from the deal on Wednesday once it was clear the White House was not budging. Claire Buchan, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration was still trying to negotiate. But Republican Congressional officials said the administration did not want a deal that Democratic lawmakers might support, giving them a tax-cutting credential, too. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, had already said he would retain most of Mr. Bush's middle-class tax cuts, and many Democratic lawmakers said they would vote for a modest extension of the tax cuts even if the extension was not paid for. "If the Democrats had been on the same side, it would have taken a lot of arrows out of the quiver,'' said one Republican staff member. Democrats Wednesday night rushed to make the most of the Republicans' disarray. "It's important that we don't let these important middle-class tax provisions expire,'' said Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana. "But we also can't burden our families with a five-year tax cut that we can't afford.'' Perhaps in a bid to reduce tensions with Republican lawmakers, the White House offered a concession in another battle with Congress over a major highway spending bill. The administration had been threatening to veto any bill costing more than $256 billion, over six years, while the Senate had passed a bill that would spend $318 billion. On Wednesday, the White House said it would accept a bill that cost as much as $284 billion. Though the impasse remained unresolved, the concession raised the possibility that lawmakers would be able to go back to their districts at the end of this week with a bill that includes scores of pet projects in almost every state. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/22/politics/22tax.html?pagewanted=print&position=
More... A better job of explaining the startegery... ______________ Bush Quashes GOP Deal on Tax Cuts' Life By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 22, 2004; Page A02 President Bush yesterday scuttled a Republican agreement to extend three expiring middle-class tax cuts for two years, deciding instead to push for a more costly five-year extension when Congress returns in September. On Tuesday night, congressional GOP leaders agreed to a modest, two-year extension of an expanded, 10 percent income tax bracket, a tax break for married couples and a $1,000-per-child tax credit. Congress passed those tax cuts last year, and they will expire at the end of 2004 unless Congress acts. But White House officials urged Republicans to hold out for a longer extension more in line with the president's call to make the tax cuts permanent. Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. put in a round of angry phone calls Tuesday night, several Senate aides said. Then White House counselor Karl Rove and Bush himself called GOP tax writers yesterday urging them to kill the deal. "I won't officially pronounce it dead, but let's put it this way: It is expiring," said a senior Republican tax aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail backroom negotiations. "This is a classic situation where, when someone advocates all or nothing, nothing generally wins," said Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), who had backed the two-year proposal. "We're at real danger that we may get nothing." A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity so he could discuss legislative strategy, said Bush is confident that the gambit will work. Democrats and some moderate Republicans have pushed a shorter extension, offset by tax increases to reduce its impact on the budget deficit. But come September, the official said, the vote will be overwhelming for a longer extension without offsets. "Do we run a risk?" the official said. "As this year has shown, it's very difficult to pass even what many would say is common-sense legislation. In this business you always run a risk." But, he added, "the Democrats don't want to be on the wrong side of family tax relief. . . . In this case a filibuster will be seen as stopping those tax cuts." The White House's forceful actions left congressional Republicans scratching their heads. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said earlier this month that he wanted to delay considering a tax cut extension bill until September. But Bush called him to the White House earlier this month to demand action before Congress recesses for the political conventions this summer. At that time, the president expressed the fear that September's short congressional session would be so politicized that nothing would get done and the tax cuts would expire. House Republican leaders had expressed their satisfaction with a two-year extension on Tuesday, saying it would allow the issue to come back in time for the 2006 congressional elections. In the end, Bush turned down the deal before it could even reach the House or Senate floors for a political showdown. "The calculation was: 'We want to get a bill, and if we don't get a bill, we'd at least have an issue,' " said one Senate Republican tax aide. "Now they don't have a bill, and they don't have an issue. They had a deal, and they walked away from it."
Interesting stuff. I wish this would mean the end to Republicans acusing Dems of using stuff only for political purposes, when obviously they are now doing the same with taxes. But since they aren't responding here, I think it might be an ostrich moment.
I find it interesting that the middle class and lower class tax cuts are the first ones to expire while the ones for rich people and corporations don't expire until later.
Interesting, but now surprising. It is telling that the same people who cry "class warfare" over issues like Social Security, Welfare, and unemployment insurance will do everything possible to see that their taxes are reduced while the middle and lower classes shoulder more and more of the burden every year. Class warfare indeed.
