The AP reports that the House Democratic Caucus has voted to oppose President Barack Obama’s tax plan “in its current form,” despite stepped-up efforts by the White House, and Vice President Biden in particular, to court wayward Democrats.
While the caucus vote is non-binding, it surely signals the caucus’s displeasure with their president. It was a voice vote, so we don’t know how many Democrats are actually lined up against the deal, though the AP calls it “quite lopsided” and Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada tells reporters that “one person voted against it. That would be me.” But the question is whether it was a purely symbolic vote — so much face-saving. The fact, as has been pointed out here before, is that if the Republicans can line up nearly all of their caucus behind the deal — and Speaker Pelosi can be convinced not to exercise her prerogative to keep the bill off the floor all together — there won’t need to be anything near a majority of Democrats to get it passed. It could end up looking a lot like the second TARP vote.
A better indication of the strength of Democratic opposition to the deal is the letter of opposition to the deal from Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont, which had 54 Democratic signatories. But that leaves 200 Democratic votes up for grabs.
Pelosi has been playing her cards close to the vest, but her No.2, the moderate Steny Hoyer of Maryland, seems to be throwing his weight behind a deal, warning that “We’re going to have an increase in taxes on working Americans … if we continue to have gridlock.”
UPDATE: Thanks to a commenter for pointing out the White House is sufficiently worried about the House Democrats that it is considering alternative legislative strategies. Speaker Pelosi has already said she won’t touch the Obama-McConnell deal until the Senate acts on it (if at all), and now CNN’s Ed Henry reports that, in light of the caucus vote, an unnamed senior White House adviser is saying that the strategy now is to use a bill already passed by House as a vehicle for the new tax deal, and send it back to the house — something the adviser called “jam[ming] the House.”
This, ironically, would amount to giving House leadership a taste of their own medicine, since they used the procedural advantages associated with the “amend a Senate bill” trick to pass their middle-class-only tax bill without giving the Republicans an opportunity to offer an alternative.
Regardless, the ball is still in Pelosi’s court. House leadership has wide prerogatives on what that body does and does not consider. Just about the only real way to force a vote without the Speaker’s approval is a discharge petition, which would require 218 signatories and 30 days. So — oh, delicious irony! — the only thing standing between President Obama and what looks like it would be the most popular initiative of his term – is Nancy Pelosi!
UPDATE II: Here’s Speaker Pelosi’s non-committal statement post-caucus vote:
“We will continue discussions with the President and our Democratic and Republican colleagues in the days ahead to improve the proposal before it comes to the House floor for a vote,” Pelosi said.
“Democratic priorities remain clear: to provide a tax cut for working families, to create jobs and economic growth, to assist millions of our fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and to do this in a fiscally sound way.”
"Good" for them. The Undemocratic party rules again, public opinion be damned. Should they fail to reach an agreement--which I think is a good bet if Pelosi doesn't bring it to a floor vote, because the GOP is well positioned to simply run out the clock before rectifying the situation after they are seated in the majority--Pelosi will now have destroyed them in the House and this could end up destroying Obama as well. Were the GOP to step in and vote the same compromise through in January, Obama will sign it. However, instead of him receiving some credit, the only winners in the eyes of independents will be the suddenly populist-looking GOP, who at that point will have saved EVERYONE from a tax increase. In the end, the Democratic Party, with its current ideological/psychological dynamics, is simply unfit to lead. And heck, they don't even try to lead the country anyway; instead, they cater exclusively to San Francisco liberal types whereas the other 80% of the country can go to hell as far as Pelosi is concerned. It is ironic that there were so many postmortems written about the demise of the GOP after 2008, yet in only two years, the Democrats seem to be the ones who are becoming the endangered species by way of arrogant, prideful, yes, sanctimonious self-immolation.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"and Speaker Pelosi doesn’t exercise her prerogative to keep the bill off the floor all together."
According to the updated AP article, Pelosi WILL excercise her prerogative and will not bring this deal, in its current form, to the floor.
While I still think it is posturing, apparently the White House is concerned enough about this that they are reporting to Ed Henry of CNN that they might have to go a different route.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusewonder when the MSM will highlight the Dems obstructionism. Deal has been struck yet the Donks are holding it hostage.
Disgusting
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLook who the hostage takers are now, creeps! See you at the polls!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis deal is awful, nothing more than a massive payday loan from China. It'd be better if it didn't pass for the wrong reasons.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI am so tired of hearing the term "working Americans" as if those of us who make over $250,000 don't work. My husband and I work SEVEN...yes SEVEN jobs between us in order to bring in the money we do. We also have six kids and live in one of the highest cost of living areas in the country,so $300,00 income puts us firmly in the middle class in our area. We do it so that we can live debt free and send our kids to good (state) colleges, so that they do not have to start out their lives in debt (2 down 4 to go!) Don't tell us we are not working Americans and that we are not paying more than our fair share of taxes.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePelosi leadership = sweet irony.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy are the Dems holding unemployment & middle class tax cuts hostage to preventing people from keeping their property?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNot that I'm being cynical, but a cynics will say all this huffing and puffing, table-pounding harangue are just theater, written and directed by the same people, who have a desire to make Pres. Obama less liberal than he actually is. At the end of the day, this deal will pass, and these "angry" liberals will throw in the money, and cast the vote for the Pres. re-election bid.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSpeaker Pelosi and the rest of the dems secretly want these rates to sunset. lets remember Pres. Obama and soon to be ex speaker Pelosi campaigned to let these rates sunset and or outright repeal they do not care what else happens to this economy this is just another way they can blame the Bush administation again
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRE: "Dem Caucus Votes to Oppose Tax Deal. So What?"
The headline is a lot funnier when you read it with the Joy Behar parody from SNL's "The View" sketches in mind.
@swift boaTER RE: "wonder when the MSM will highlight the Dems obstructionism."
As an answer, let me fix that for you...
"wonder when the MSM will highlight the Dems courageous opposition."
And, yes, the MSM will highlight just that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI would like to see the new Congress engage in some procedural reform come January. "Deem and pass" and "jamming the House" and all that parlimentary gamesmanship and legedermain has been nefariously used to the nth degree by Frau Pelosi and her weak-chinned counterpart in The World's Greatest Deliberative Body. The fewer arcane procedures there are, the fewer there are to twist and abuse.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI know it's apostasy, but the cost of letting the tax cuts lapse is worth the price of seeing Nancy and Steny complain about being shut out of the "process". 'Course, I'm in a lower tax bracket, so it's like spending other people's money (wow, that is easy!)
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@Jay RE: "The fewer arcane procedures there are, the fewer there are to twist and abuse."
I'm not sure I'm in favor of emptying the tool box just prior to having to disassemble Obamacare, etc...
If you're championing the high road, regardless, I can respect that. If we don't need the "tricks" to get stuff done, by all means, dismantle the mechanism that makes them possible. Simply making a gentleman's agreement to not use them won't cut it, because Democrats have no honor and just may come to power again before I die.
For now, I want to "win". At the end of the day, as far as using procedural "tricks" to get things done (or undone, as the case may be), I'm fine with the GOP taking a page from The Untouchables. "I have become what I beheld and I am content that I have done right."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCounter the Left's nonsense via a proposal for a flat tax of 20%, and stand firm until January(when we will hold a few more cards).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is why you never let people you've just fired remain on the job. The session really should have ended before the election and a new session started with the new Congress in January. They would have had incentive to finish this before the election or everyone would already know what was going to happen vis-a-vis taxes.
Then the Republicans (hopefully conservative) would start fixing the mess the Democrats left behind.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere will be some real pain to go around if the the tax cuts do expire. The Clinton Era AMT will kick back in, and people earning as little as $65,000 a year will suddenly find themselves liable for hundreds if not thousands in taxes due (where in the past 8 years they got money back); EIC payments to large middle class families will be reduced, and the dreaded Death Tax will be back in. These are just a few of the many changes that will have big time immediate implications for millions of tax filers. Of course, Congress can change this come January. But of if the tax cuts do expire, there is no telling what will be decided in the current political climate. In the mean time, people who understand what is up and what is at stake may just decide to curtail the remainder of thier Christmas shopping.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf the tax cuts expire, many unemployed people will decide to stay unemployed, and many businesses will decide not to hire. Many businesses on the margins will close. It will be a disaster, but if that is what these freaks want, give it to them and make them choke on it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOne of the first orders of business for our next SPEAKER should be to present a bill eliminating the 'lame duck' session once and for all!! There is no way any good can come from a vote by those who have been rejected in the recent election.
I'd also like a bill presented to make it mandatory for a balanced budget to be passed prior to the fiscal year's ending!! It is time to take 'politics' out of the BUSINESS of running of our government!!!
I do hope those who voted to keep Pelosi as their top spokesperson are pleased with themselves. She is the LOWEST rated EVER Speaker and they couldn't find it within themselves to replace her???? SHAME ON THEM!
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