The Senate put out a two month extension, which made the House bristle. After all, they said, a two month extension is useless. We need a full year. The Senate was being disingenuous to the American people by not extended the cuts longer. The House was simply interested in doing what's best for the country.
I find this hard to believe. Scrutinizing the bill gives a completely different picture. The final bill that was signed by Barack Obama does the following:
- Extends the current payroll tax rate
- Renews federal unemployment benefits
- Stops cuts in Medicare payments to doctors
- Approves construction of an oil pipeline from Canada to Texas
- Increases home loan fees from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
- Requires the House and Senate to work on a bill extending the cuts for one year
What does an oil pipeline have to do with tax cuts? And herein lies the problem. The House and Senate are both lying to the American people by blaming the other side for not passing this legislation when the legislation itself is garbage and neither side will admit to that.
Let's have honesty in our government. Take every one of these items and make each one a separate piece of legislation, bring it to the floor and vote on it. Let us, the American people, see exactly how each member of the House and Senate is willing to vote on each individual item.
Start with the tax cut extension. Bring that to the floor immediately upon return from the holidays and vote on it. Let's see who does care enough about the American people to pass it and who does not.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, it is time for you to stand up and be counted.
1 comment:
I'm no expert on government, but I know that "compromise" means "give me something I want to get something you want." LBJ was an expert at this and for awhile, he got a lot of good things done by "compromising", giving the folks he needed votes from something they wanted. I won't digress into his fall from grace, but the point is, this is the essence of politics. Working out a deal. You want tax cuts, I want an oil pipeline. What do we have to do so we both get something? The problem with the current crop of republicans is, they have one agenda - to make Obama look bad. That's the "deal" they want. And they aren't very transparent about it. In fact, they've blatantly said it time after time. You can't negotiate with someone who only wants to destroy you. You have no leverage. Unless... you can destroy them too. Make the American People hate you for directly raising their middle-class taxes while refusing to raise taxes on the 1%. But not to be held completely hostage, they insist on and get that oil pipeline as a way of salvaging some part of their agenda. They won't vote on an individual item, ever. It just doesn't work that way. It's why it's ridiculous to compare politics to a business or a family. It's why a good businessman doesn't necessarily make a good politician. When you elect people who say they won't play that game, like the new tea party congresspersons, you get gridlock because they won't budge. That's where we are now.
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