http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/20/holiday-showdown-over-payroll-tax-tests-obama-gop/ Shame on Democrats. They should get back to work. Obama doesn't need a Hawaii vacation either. Let him work for once in his life. WASHINGTON â House Democrats were fuming Wednesday after Republicans adjourned the chamber just as Democrats were trying to bring up the Senate-passed payroll tax cut bill, a two-month extension that Republicans effectively rejected in a vote the day before. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer was cut off as he tried to call up the Senate bill for a vote. In an unusual scene, the presiding Republican in the chamber adjourned the chamber until Friday and walked out while Hoyer continued shouting on the floor for the House to vote "to extend the tax cut for 160 million Americans." "You're walking out," Hoyer said as officials left the chamber. "You're walking away. Just as so many Republicans have walked away from middle-class taxpayers." Hoyer and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, later slammed Republicans for the maneuver. "We could have gotten this bill passed and by the end of the day it could be on the president's desk," Van Hollen said. But while Senate and House Democrats were calling for a swift House vote on the Senate-passed bill, House Republicans, who've already approved a year-long extension for the payroll tax cut, made demands of their own. Republicans were calling on the Senate to appoint lawmakers to negotiate a compromise between the Senate bill -- which extends the payroll tax cut for two months -- and the House Republican version which would last a year. The House voted in favor of launching that compromise process Tuesday, though it did not technically hold an up-or-down vote on the Senate bill. House Republicans were meeting behind closed doors Wednesday morning to discuss their case for getting a year-long extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut, though they so far have no one to negotiate with. "Our Republican strategy is pretty simple, we're going to stay here and get the work done now," Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, a conferee, told Fox News. "Get the job done first, vacation later and that's our message to the president." "The House GOP leadership must listen to the American people and allow a vote on the bipartisan Senate compromise," Nadeam Elshami, spokesman for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. "Unless they act responsibly and agree to the bipartisan short-term bill approved by Senate Republicans and Democrats, millions of Americans will see a tax hike." But as the standoff unfolds, most of Washington has left town for the holidays, participating in a mass exodus Tuesday night after a partisan vote to reaffirm the House position for a year-long extension to the payroll tax cut. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid urged House Speaker John Boehner in a letter Wednesday to bring members back to vote on the Senate bill. House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, though, told Fox News that the ball is in the Senate's court. "We're sitting here on the ground in Washington, waiting for the Democrats to come and do their work," Cantor said Wednesday. "The truth is, the bill is back in the Senate now." The House and Senate are in pro-forma session, which in effect means they haven't adjourned but have sent everyone home until they have reason to reconvene and take action. Still, Cantor said, with 10 days left in the year and an obvious wall between the House and Senate, lawmakers need to sit down. "We can get there," Cantor said Wednesday. President Obama is also left in limbo, as his family goes on vacation to Hawaii and he remains in Washington, insisting the House take action to approve the Senate legislation and refusing to leave until a deal is struck. That could make for a lonely holiday. House Republicans say isn't plausible to pass a two-month extension. "What the Senate passed is unworkable," Cantor said. "The people that are in the business of payroll administration have said that prescription of a 60-day extension could cause increased uncertainty and costs and could actually hurt workers and small businesses. And I think right now, given the economic times and the tough year that people have had, they don't need that." On Monday, the Treasury Department insisted that while a year-long extension of the payroll tax is preferable, a short-term cut is doable. "While any short-term extension is bound to create some administrative complications, it is feasible to implement the bipartisan Senate bill, and the Treasury Department will work with employers to ensure the smoothest possible implementation," said Jenni LeCompte, a Treasury spokeswoman. Without a deal, Social Security taxes return to their 2010 rate of 6.2 percent. In 2012, that is on the first $110,000 of income. For households making $50,000 a year, that's the equivalent about an extra $1,000. While proponents like the White House say $40 a paycheck helps a lot of people afford a lot of items, critics say the cut does nothing to inspire hiring, and is merely a battle over which party gets to claim the mantle of tax-cutting. The legislation doesn't just provide $19 a week in extra income. Both the House and Senate restore cuts to Medicare doctors' fees that are set to expire on Jan. 1, and they extend unemployment benefits for another year. Trying to find a fix for the doctor payment cuts, Medicare announced Tuesday that, as it has in the past when doctors' reimbursements have been cut through congressional inaction, it would withhold physicians' payments for two weeks. The hope is that the problem gets fixed by then. But given the intransigence on both sides, the leverage to an endgame may just be the ticking clock. "We're here. We're ready to extend those payroll tax cuts," Brady said. "The issue is will Democrats end their vacations and come back with us to solve that problem? Will the president insist that Democrats end their vacations and do their jobs first."
I don't think they will. There isn't any George Bush in the story and frankly I think the democrats are quite happy to raise taxes by about $1,000 dollars on middle-class households. Democrats like to raise taxes and never saw a tax increase they didn't vote for. The question is whether Obama is going to Hawaii or sticking around to get the job done. Take one guess which he does lol.
I'll let your own do it http://www.boston.com/Boston/politi...tax-holiday/G0wBvRWQHk8X28Pt0syD8M/index.html Senator Scott Brown blasts House Republicans for balking on deal to extend tax holiday WASHINGTON -- Senator Scott Brown lashed out at his Republican brethren in the House today for holding up the Senateâs bipartisan stop-gap measure extending for two months a payroll tax holiday and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. The Massachusetts Republican called the House GOPâs opposition âirresponsible and wrong.â http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/20/mccain-payroll-tax-cut-showdown-harming-the-gop/ McCain: Payroll tax cut showdown 'harming' the GOP (CNN) â Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said Tuesday the battle on Capitol Hill between Democrats and Republicans over extending the payroll tax cut was causing damage to the GOP. "It is harming the Republican Party," McCain said on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." "It is harming the view, if it's possible anymore, of the American people about Congress. And we've got to get this thing resolved."
Well of course those two are going to whine as they are the two biggest RINOs in the senate. Ask an actual conservative what they think and they'll tell you that the Obama regime secretly wants the $1,000 dollar per household tax increase because, well just because it is a tax increase. I have to agree with the House Republicans, why pass a 2-month tax deal? It should be 1-year minumum so that businesses have some idea what their tax liability will be for the year. Any shorter timeframe is anti-business but then we know the Obama regime is anti-business, at least in public.
Yet one was the hero of the Republican party not long ago when he took Teddy Kennedy's seat and the other was your guys GOP nominee 3 years ago Now that they're pointing out the obvious (that the Republicans in The House are a bunch of fucking idiots) they're whining RINOs...ok then
And Obama phones in his contribution to the debate: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19593097 Pathetic. This guy is a no-show for the job of President. He is all about Air Force One and fancy vacations on multimillion dollar estates in Hawaii and Martha's Vineyard. The Prez is a putz and a poser. Will we ever get a real President again? Another 4 years of Bush would have been better than this.
This country is basically ungovernable. So many conflicting interests, each of them with their hands out wanting their own freebies..whether its corporate welfare, social welfare, free housing, free food, free healthcare, union pensions, defense contracts, porkulus lobbying, etc, etc... The political grandstanding is comical about this SS payroll issue while literally everything outside of this issue is teetering on the brink. But one thing we've all learned these past few years is that absolutely none if these imbeciles is the least bit pro-active. There "aw shucks" bullshit after everything collapses is about all they can muster.
The democraps are all about politics. They don't care that if everyones taxes go up. They only care that they can find a way to blame Republicans. I hope there are no more democraps left in office after 2012.
And this feeble nonsense from the party whose sole purpose is to unseat an elected president, vs. having the SCOTUS appointed Mr. Bush? How many days on the ranch again? AK and others have already done your reading for you, so if you have trouble with the big words, just ask. Maybe fox news can start using more pictures to help you all figure this out. c