House Passes Payroll Tax Extension And Others

Of course, the Democrat controlled Senate has said they would kill it and Obama has said he will veto it. Before reading it, of course

(Washington Post) Prospects for a year-end congressional compromise on key tax and spending legislation grew more complicated Tuesday, as the Republican House passed a controversial version of a payroll tax cut extension despite a veto threat from the White House.

Approved on a vote of 234 to 193, the Republican tax bill would extend a one-year break in the payroll tax that is due to expire at the end of the month, setting the rate at 4.2 percent for the year instead of allowing it to revert to 6.2 percent. But it also would accelerate the construction of an oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast that the White House is determined to slow down.

Personally, I think they should have kept the lower 3.6% rate, but, I’m betting there is some negotiation in there, where the GOP controlled House will say “well, OK, we’ll lower it, you give us Keystone XL.”

To fund the tax cut, the measure would freeze pay for civilian federal workers for another year and reduce the government workforce.

It would extend benefits for the long-term unemployed but reform the unemployment insurance program to reduce the maximum time those out of work can receive benefits, from 99 weeks to 59 weeks. It also would allow states to require drug testing for benefits.

The measure would postpone scheduled cuts in Medicare re­imbursement rates for doctors but pay for the “doc fix” by raising Medicare premiums for upper-income seniors and eliminating some funding for the federal health-care law.

This is a good compromise piece of legislation, but, we can’t call it “bipartisan”, since it doesn’t give Obama everything he wants and the GOP nothing.

That is unlikely to happen. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) called the bill a “pointless partisan exercise” and characterized it as an ideological grab bag of Republican pet projects.

President Obama has rejected linking the payroll tax issue to the approval of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline, and the State Department, which has is responsible for examining the environmental impact of the cross-border project, announced Monday that it would not be able to complete the proper reviews in 60 days, as required by the House bill.

But a formal veto threat from the White House on Tuesday did not mention the pipeline. Instead, it accused Republicans of cutting programs needed by middle-income workers to fund the tax reduction.

Democrats are stuck on the “we gotta raise taxes on the rich and that is the only way to pay for this” mantra, and are unwilling to compromise. If they can’t get their way 100%, they gnash their teeth and throw a fit like a 5 year old in a toy store who isn’t getting the toy they really want. Unfortunately, the GOP can’t just walk away like a parent, because the 90% liberal media will allow the Democrats to control the narrative and the GOP would be painted as the bad guys.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

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One Response to “House Passes Payroll Tax Extension And Others”

  1. Word says:

    I do not understand why the right does not allow the democrats to raise the taxes all they want……..

    The GOP just abstains from voting which is a YES vote and the democrats voracious taxation goes into effect…..

    OR….it never even hits the floor because even the pseudocommies with a (D) behind their name know what will happen if they raise taxes like they want………

    1. The deficit will skyrocket.
    2. The economy will tank.
    3. It will ALL be the Democrats fault.

    so they yell and scream and pander to their base of pseudocommie leftists who want class war fare……..who want to pander to the unions that represent SEVEN percent of the population in this country………..

    and do nothing…..hell they could not even pass a budget when they were a super majority and they could not even pass health care when they had all the votes needed……

    Why?

    because its all talking points spin……

    IF……….

    IF they fix what they proclaim is broken they have nothing to run on except the results……

    Well they fixed poverty didnt they?

    Well they fixed drug usage didnt they?

    Well they sure fixed immigration problems havent they?

    The point is they do not want to FIX anything….they want to use whats broken to get relected every year and raising taxes, fixing the economy is just another way of doing that…….

    Dont let a crisis go to waste….so they wont……..OMG we gotta extend unemployed benefits……

    OMG we gotta cut payroll taxes or we will all perish………

    OMG we got to spend trillions on green energy or florida will be underwater by 2100.

    OMG……….

    OMG is right…….lies….nothing but lies…they all know it but as Bill O’Reilly said the other night 1/2 the voters in this country have NO IDEA whats going on and they just listen to sound bites…….

    so our government is sound bite driven….hence the real need for US the ordinary people to spread the real world every day to everyone that we meet……….no matter how we do it we need to get this word out.

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