"House And Senate Dems Out Of Sync On Tax Cut Strategy"

[Clio the Leo]

House And Senate Dems Out Of Sync On Tax Cut Strategy
Brian Beutler | November 22, 2010, 11:29AM

After a flurry of meetings, phone calls, member-to-member discussions and public jousting with Republican leaders, Democrats left Washington on Friday aware of two key facts: Both the House and Senate will eventually vote to allow the Bush tax cuts on upper-income earners to expire; but party leaders in neither chamber have a clear path to winning that vote. And more importantly, with the White House still pressing for a bipartisan solution that can pass before the end of the year, the only thing that's certain is that nobody has any clue what the final tax cut compromise will look like.

Despite months of intra-party wrangling over how to proceed on tax cuts, House and Senate aides, speaking under the condition of anonymity, paint a picture of two chambers dramatically out of sync with one another. Senate Democrats and House Democrats alike continue to negotiate among themselves, with little understanding of what their counterparts are planning or can accomplish.

That strongly suggests that the votes themselves will serve mostly symbolic and political purposes, but that any final compromise will likely emerge from a bruising and chaotic legislative fight as the days tick down toward the end of the year, and all the tax cuts expire.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid has been very clear about his initial strategy. At a press conference late last week, Reid announced he'd kick things off next month by holding two votes: one on the GOP plan to extend all the Bush tax cuts permanently, and another on a more progressive-friendly plan to extend all the cuts except for the ones that benefit the wealthiest Americans.

A Senate Democratic leadership aide acknowledged that Reid is fully aware that neither vote is winnable -- the idea is to begin the public and private negotiating after putting Republicans on the record as having filibustered middle-income tax cuts.

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House leadership is all to aware that Reid has no idea what he can and can't deliver. But though Speaker Nancy Pelosi has fewer obstacles in her way, it's also unclear what her caucus will agree to, and whether a majority of them can be cobbled together to prevent Republicans from using procedural tricks to force through an extension of the high-income tax cuts.

If Pelosi puts legislation on the floor that would allow the high-income cuts to expire, Republicans would likely counter with a procedural motion that would add additional cuts for wealthy Americans -- and they'd have the support of a significant number of Democrats.

<snip>

There's a strong possibility that these two approaches will leave House and Senate Democrats in very different places. Those differences would ultimately have to be resolved before Christmas, or all the cuts will expire. That means Democratic leaders will have to compare notes and reach something approaching a consensus before next week, when Republican and Democratic leaders meet at the White House to try to reach a consensus once and for all.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/dems-out-of-sync-on-tax-cut-strategy.php

[DCKit]

1. How 'bout we make taxes on those high earners proportional to the unemployment rate?

We'd see how many jobs they can create when they really want to.

[Clio the Leo]

4. lol good one. nt

[Lil Missy]

2. Put 'em on the record and let the tax cuts expire if necessary.

[Kaleva]

3. I'd just let the tax breaks expire if need be.

Try to push thru an extension for the middle class and when and if that fails, let it all expire and then pin the tail on the Repubs for voting against it.