Wednesday - January 02, 2013

Such A Cliff Hanger

Congress gave its final approval Tuesday to a bill halting massive tax hikes and delaying a risky round of spending cuts, sending the package to the president’s desk and likely averting for now an economy-stalling fiscal crisis. President Obama said he would sign it.

The 257-167 vote in the House came after a day of high drama on Capitol Hill, during which conservative House lawmakers voiced serious concern about the Senate bill’s lack of spending cuts. Rank-and-file Republicans initially predicted they would tinker with the package, raising the possibility the Senate would abandon it and nothing would get done before the new congressional class is seated Thursday.

But House leaders soon learned they did not have a majority behind any spending-cut plan, and allowed the straight vote. Far more Democrats supported the final bill than Republicans.

The result, once Obama signs it, is that tax hikes that technically kicked in Jan. 1 for most Americans would largely be halted.

Obama, speaking at the White House shortly before midnight, thanked Vice President Biden for his role in negotiating with the Senate a day earlier on the compromise package. The president, as did Republicans on the Hill, cautioned that the bill will precede a broader debate in 2013 about deficit reduction.

The bill passed by Congress would nix the 2013 tax increases for families making under $450,000, while letting rates rise for those making above that threshold. It would also extend unemployment insurance for another year, while patching up a host of other expiring provisions and delaying automatic spending cuts for two months. Those cuts, which would hit defense heavily, will instead be offset with a blend of tax increases and other spending cuts.

Americans will still see a 2-point increase this month in their Social Security tax, as Congress did not opt to extend that payroll tax holiday.

Holy cow. If I’m reading that right, this is the best time in history to have lost your job. We were already at the two year mark (99 weeks). Now it will be 150 weeks? Unreal. And just where is that money coming from, anyway?

While Boehner and former Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, R-Wis., voted for the bill, some of Boehner’s top deputies – notably Republican Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. – opposed it. Boehner is facing a vote to retain his speakership in a matter of days.

Give him the boot. Try and find a real Conservative with some backbone to replace him. Yeah, good luck with that.

Without a resolution soon, taxes would have jumped by $2,400 on average for families with incomes of $50,000 to $75,000, according to a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. And because consumers would get less of their paychecks to spend, businesses and jobs would suffer as well.

Does this mean that most of the Evil Bush Tax Cuts For The Rich were renewed again???

UPDATE: Yup, I was right. While the Democrats will ring the bells that this is such a great victory for them, and the Republicans will boo Boehner as a turncoat, one truth is that the passage of this bill made 98% of the Evil Booosh Tax Cuts permanent. You know, the ones that the Democrats had fought tooth and nail against for a decade. The ones that Comrade Obingo campaigned for overturning in 2004. Seems the Dems have done another 180, and somehow the press hasn’t noticed. So, if they were on our side when they were against the EBTCFTR, and now they’re for the EBTCFTR (except for the really well off folks who are pulling down about half a mil or more), then you have to wonder ... whose side are the Democrats on? And the sad answer is that they’re on the same side as their erstwhile enemies the Republicans: the side they’re both on is NOT YOURS.  So while the tax cuts will stay with us, the AMT is going to get worse. And let’s not mention all the extra spending and pork thrown in this bill that was supposed to be all about saving money. Ain’t no such beast living in the malarial swamp called Washington DC. Ain’t no such beat a’tall.

Posted by Drew458     on 01/02/2013 at 07:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Government •  
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