To me it's just ineptness.
Why did these politicians work out only a 2 month deal to begin with? Why didn't they work out a 1-year deal to begin with? Well...they wanted to get off to their Christmas vacations.
Should politicians even get Christmas vacations? After all, didn't they get a month long August vacation to spend with their families and talk to their constituents?
Why is it necessary to "pay for" the income from "normal folk" if I may so term them, that the government is losing by not letting the tax rate go back up by 2%. Stop spending money we don't have, and there'll be no need to "pay for" that.
Of course that's easier said than done. What programs can be cut?
Do programs need to be cut? Why not just make politicians earn less money, as President Obama wants to do for Wall Street folks? Why not cut government travel out altogether and have everyone hook up by teleconference - we have the technology. Why not tell Presidents that in this day and age of heightened insecurity, they can't be going off to Hawaii for two week long vacations..or if they are going, spouse and kids shouldn't get to fly separately. Let them wait two whole extra days.
Fox News this morning has a straigthforward headline - as opposed to last night when several online news sites were saying that Boehner "caved" or "blinked"
Congress Approves Two-Month Tax Cut Extension, Tees Up Talks on Yearlong Package
Congress on Friday approved a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, averting a tax hike with a no-drama vote following a week of partisan deadlock.
The House and Senate, taking up the tax cut deal struck by party leaders the day before, each approved the package in a matter of minutes, sending it to the president's desk. The bill keeps the payroll tax rate at 4.2 percent, meaning a family making $50,000 would be spared an increase of roughly $40 per paycheck. The package also extends long-term unemployment insurance and prevents a deep cut in payments to doctors who see Medicare patients.
Under the terms of the agreement struck between House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, both chambers will next send negotiators to hammer out a yearlong package in early 2012.
The deal ends the standoff that began last Saturday when House Republicans refused to take up the Senate's two-month extension. Despite continued grumbling among rank-and-file House Republicans, nobody from the caucus formally objected to the bill when it was brought up Friday morning. Boehner was able to win a couple minor concessions -- namely, the assurance to start negotiations on a yearlong package and a provision to help small businesses deal with the mechanics of a short-term tax holiday without much fuss.
Still, the outcome was swiftly cast as a victory for Democrats, who were adamant that the House pass the two-month extension now and leave the broader negotiations on a yearlong package for later.
President Obama and others said this was the only way to ensure taxes don't go up on Jan. 1.
"This is good news, just in time for the holidays," Obama said in a written statement Thursday night. "This is real money that will make a real difference in people's lives."
As Democrats got their way, Republicans in the House were not shy about expressing disappointment with the way things played out. Republicans had wanted to discard the Senate's two-month extension -- describing it as a stopgap measure that only fuels uncertainty in the economy -- and work overtime over the holidays to come up with a yearlong extension.
At least one lawmaker said Boehner's speakership could be at risk over his handling of the standoff.
Another said Republican members "never would have gone along" with the deal.
Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., slammed the agreement.
"I cannot support this, but it seems the politics of demagoguery have won over policy and principle with the concession to enact tax policy on two-month basis," he said on his Facebook page.
West and other opponents, though, did not formally object to the House vote. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., another critic of the deal, suggested in a statement that he was looking to focus his energy on the upcoming debate over the yearlong deal.
"Tonight I share the same feeling of frustration that constituents from throughout the Third District have expressed to me over the past several months," he said. "However, it has strengthened my resolve to go back into session in January to fight even harder to reform Washington's reckless fiscal policies and advance an economic growth agenda that will benefit all Americans."
Looking ahead to the next stage in the process, Reid named his side's negotiators Friday -- Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Ben Cardin, D-Md.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; and Bob Casey, D-Pa.
"They're going to work expeditiously to come up with a long-term arrangement," Reid said Friday.
House Democrats also named their negotiators -- Reps. Sander Levin, D-Mich.; Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; and Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.
______________
My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday throughout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.
No comments:
Post a Comment