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Making an obstructionism exacta today, Senate Republicans defeated the motion to proceed on a second payroll tax cut bill by a 50-48 count. The roll call is here. Joe Manchin and Bernie Sanders crossed the aisle to vote with all the Republicans. Sanders opposes the measure because another year of payroll tax cuts threatens Social Security.
Republicans claim to support the concept of extending the payroll tax cut for 2012, but oppose the pay-for in this bill of a 1.9% surtax on millionaires. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon already thought he was paying twice that much, according to remarks from earlier today.
The Republican plan is to allow the House to pass their payroll tax cut package, which has an assortment of poison pills included, in particular the shift of authority for approving the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from the President to a federal energy panel, and the rollback of an EPA rule on industrial boilers. Republicans hope to get majority support for this in the House, and then jam the Senate with it by leaving town. Democrats have already achieved majority support for their payroll tax cut versions in the Senate, but because of archaic quirks in Senate rules, they need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
It appears that the President’s opposition to the House GOP plan has turned conservatives around:
The plan was met with enthusiasm from Republicans who last week gave House Speaker John A. Boehner an earful about attempts to reduce the payroll taxes paid by workers to 3.1 percent of wages, from the current 4.2 percent.
“It’s a solid plan,” said Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Budget Committee. “I like the unemployment reforms quite a bit.”
Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, a leader of conservative Republicans in the House, also welcomed the package. “The fact that the president doesn’t like it makes me like it even more,” Mr. Jordan said. “We are letting families keep more of their own money.”
“I was undecided last week,” said Representative Phil Gingrey, Republican of Georgia. “But I am going to vote for this now.”
Likewise, Representative Allen B. West, Republican of Florida and an early opponent of the payroll tax holiday extension, said of the leaders: “They heard us. They took our concerns into account.” Senate Democrats were not impressed by the proposal.
I guess the tension over whether to include corporate tax breaks in the package has subsided.
We’ll see the House pass their version next week. It’s unclear how this will progress after that.
UPDATE: Just out from Harry Reid:
House Republicans’ bill is a partisan joke that has no chance of passing the Senate, but middle-class families facing a thousand-dollar tax hike on January 1st are not laughing. Instead of playing political games, Congress should work to find common ground. In the days ahead, I intend to do exactly that.
So now we’re at the part where both sides blame the other for failing to prevent a tax increase.
43 Comments
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Harry Reid is a joke in everyone’s book.
Kudos to Bernie Sanders for holding fast against the Obama led defunding of Social Security.
I’ll take the couple dollars a week tax increase next year as it is my unshakeable belief that if the payroll tax isn’t raised to it’s previous level next year it will never be. Using the payroll tax as a “temporary” stimulus was always a bad idea and I for one will be glad to see it end.
Good for Bernie….
OT
What is it about VA Tech than invites shooting. I spose it’s not enough gunz.
Oh dear me.
Don’t you realize how irrelevant Sanders is yet teh vital performance role he plays in the D kabuki?
Sanders is the designated go-to-guy for meaningless progressive sound bites, while rest of congress marches steadily to right. Ya know, ya can’t do that unless there is ONE person left hanging out as a sacrificial lamb.
Sanders gets off on playing just such a role, and making fun of real progressives in the process.
Given the frame or I should say myth that we are operating under, it’s good the payroll tax cuts will end.
Since I know better though, there is no reason to have a regressive social security tax.
Precisely the dilemma the 1%ers had in mind for us.
Joe Manchin crossed over why? Bernie Sanders why was the 1.9% tax on the rich not enough to cover the cost to SS from cutting the payroll tax or did Bernie just sell us out?
This is a dilemma. The extension of the payroll tax cut would be the opposite of progressive.
First, up to $106K the more your salary, the larger the tax cut.
Second, even though the government doesn’t collect the tax, I suspect that it will not affect the final SS payment. Larger incomes get more benefit – the unpaid tax for someone earning $100K results in a larger SS benefit than the unpaid tax for someone earning $20K. How demented is that?
Third, it does not help the unemployed, who do not get a paycheck and don’t pay payroll taxes to start with.
The Democrats have talked their way into this corner, trying to buy votes from the middle class at the expense of the poor.
Whose side are we on?
I don’t disagree with what you about Sanders. In my opinion the very definition of politician is “lying, cheating, self-dealing scumbag”. Especially the faux Democrats we are stuck with nowadays.
But the fact remains that Sanders voted the right way this time.
I want the backdoor de-funding of Social Security, a.k.a. the payroll tax cut, to end. I really couldn’t care less who votes how or why. Just let the fucking thing die….
Make or break time Obama, Middle Class is anxiously awaiting your response. Thank you in advance for your kind words of encouragement and for having our backs as we slide inexorably to our new lives as serfs and peasants.
P.S. if there were 59 more Bernie Sanders it might be worth mentioning otherwise all this is chickenshit.
Gotcha.
And these are our leaders?
The best and the brightest?
To benefit the majority of the people instead of the 1%?
Ya, we’re totally skrewed.
Please if the Dems and Harry Reid wanted this passed they could bribe people with pork or they could threaten the Senators with and say vote our way or the President will veto every pet project every bit of money coming to your state and put your state up front for military base closings.
Do not believe the Dems don’t have options they just don’t want to use them.
Partisan joke?
Any move that erodes the funding for SS without raising the cap is a joke with no humor.
Screw over our kids and grandkids for less than 30 bucks a week?
Like Frank Zappa said..If Your Children Ever Find Out How Lame You Really Are, They’ll Murder You In Your Sleep..
As John Adams said ” If good men will not come to the service of their country, others will” (and boy they sure aren’t good)
Not enough austerity, maybe…
“Tellin’ you all the zombie troof,
Here I’m is the Zombie Woof…”
If we had real Dems we could easily raise the tax on the rich to any amount you think is needed to pay for SS.
Went ahead and made a little adjustment…
“The Democrats have talked their way into this corner, trying to buy votes from the middle class at the expense of the poor.
Whose side are we on?”
I’m on the side of the middle class and the poor. What about you? :-) If the Democratic Senators and the Republican Senators and the Independent Senators all want to block each others’ bad proposals till the 2012 elections, well, won’t that just be a cryin’ shame. :-P
Raise taxes on the “job creators”????!!!!
How could we. /s
Not a problem
Last ten years of Bush Obama no taxes has resulted in sooo many jobs. /s Its time to try something else if push doesn’t work pull.
Don’t mock the job creators just because you can’t speak Mandarin
or are you unwilling to move to where the jobs are as suggested by the Fox problem solvers?
The middle class pays more taxes, of course their dollars returned should be higher. As for the unemployed, they already get unemployment. How are they going to get a tax refund if they don’t pay taxes?
This country is about fifty miles past Fucked Up.
People drawing unemployment benefits get to pay income tax on those benefits at the end of the year just like everyone else.
Uh, everyone besides big biz and billionaires!
(See TurboTaxless Timmeh)
SO, what you are saying is that, were it not for all the people without jobs, unemployment wouldn’t be so high???? Plus, we wouldn’t need to extend unemployment benefits if these same people would just find jobs before their benefits ran out.
Why isn’t that clear to our leaders in Washington????
Indeed, “fucked up” was two exits back that way.
They are all waiting on the “Job Creators” to feel warm and fuzzy enough!
I’m pretty sure this is mostly Jimmy Carter’s fault. HIm and Jeff Skilling.
If I was a billionaire, I’d be reluctant to invest in this economy too. ‘Specially with the European thing about reday to crash and burn. The new TV season has been a disaster too. The only person happy seems to be Albert Pujols.
It Is! If Carter hadn’t tried to rescue those military troops in Iran, Raegun and Popa Bush wouldn’t have had to order things slowed down until after the elections! Sheesh! We could have had a new energy policy and all.
We don’t need the billionaires anymore. We can pioneer ourselves. They only want us if we agree to remove all air, water, and labor regulations, and deem them taxless entities.
And the savings and loan scandal wouldn’t have happened, nor the first or second Gulf war. And we wouldn’t have had AIDS or WEst Nile virus.
WE SHOULD keep Bill Gatess and Warren Buffet as they are willing to pay more taxes. They’re good billionaires.
TWOOPH!
I don’t know about Gates. He is lobbying to make all schools private.
All right. We’ll string him up with the Koch Brothers and Donald Trump. You ask, why donald Trump? I say, why NOT?
InDEED!
No, what I’m saying is that people who are unemployed get unemployment extended. Something that employed people do not get. People who are employed get a taxcut, something the unemployed do not get. Everyone gets something.
In response to someguy66 @ 41
Everyone gets no Social Security when they really need it. That’s something, I guess. And all thanks to this nonCongress and our nonpresident guy in the White House. Working so hard to sell all of us down the river. Sure makes you want to vote for ‘em – NOT!
Why is the Obama team floating the idea of trading making the Bush tax cuts permanent in return for the payroll tax cut?
Oh wait – not returning to the Clinton rates is Obama’s job one – I forgot.
And providing a basis for destroying Social Security (how soon do we hear about personal accounts from Obama – forced on him to be sure), just as the turning of Medicare into the over 65 portion of the Obama health care ACA law is also part of the “Grand Bargain”.
Got to love the Obama push for the “Independent” vote.
As always the money not paid in payroll taxes is sent to the SS Trust Fund directly from FIT tax collections – so the financial effect is officially zero on the SS System – but at the same time taking SS off a dedicated tax is preparing a “deficit” need to change the program.