It appears that the White House and Senate Majority Leader (for now) Harry Reid are not at all on the same page regarding the tax deal that Reid is negotiating with House Republicans. Ever since yesterday afternoon, the White House has been sending one signal after another to indicate that they think that Reid has negotiated a horrible deal for the middle class and a giant giveaway to corporate America. Now they’ve explicitly promised to veto the compromise package of tax extenders.
Jennifer Friedman, a White House spokeswoman, said the deal being hashed out between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) gave far too much to business interests, and far too little to the middle-class.
“The president would veto the proposed deal because it would provide permanent tax breaks to help well-connected corporations while neglecting working families,” Friedman said, just hours after reports emerged that a $450 billion deal on the tax breaks was close at hand and that negotiators hoped to wrap it up by Tuesday.
It’s not clear that there is any way to get a better deal, and the Republicans will completely control Congress next year and will surely insist on an even rawer deal for the middle class in next year’s budget. But, at least this time around, the White House is willing to fight and must have some hope of extracting some further concessions.
What’s most interesting about this is the rift that has opened up between Reid and the administration.
Ya beat me to the punch, I was JUST writing about this, as Harry rRid’s Thanksgiving Turkey.
You realize of course that all of these tax cuts are preexisting and already signed into law on one (or several) occasions by Obama. It’s not a “giant giveaway to corporate America,” it’s the tax code that we already have.
Spare me the propaganda. No Democrat is succeeding in swapping out this money for lower class Americans, they just want to add more tax extensions on top. Those dastardly rich folks get their money either way.
It’s the idea of making things permanent that is ridiculous. They have two years to screw up the country so let them have their temporary screwup of the country. And what does Harry Reid get for giving up on the subsidies for renewable energy? Doesn’t seem like he gets anything.
Harry Reid gets lucrative post-political career employment with the fossil fuel barons for screwing up renewables.
Maybe O is just going for better write-ups in the history books with this stuff.
He knows he can’t win but wants to look better.
The cost of these tax breaks over ten years is $700 billion plus. Not paid for and added to the deficit. Sure enough Republicans will then point to the numbers and claim that entitlements must be cut to balance the books. This must be the middle class economic package that Chuck Schumer was talking about recently.
The rift has been there from the moment Obama stepped into the US Senate. After this last Congressional election, Obama no longer has to “take one for the team” and be told himself that “the perfect is the enemy of the good”.
What Harry Reid is asking Obama to do is fundamentally and finally betray all of the people who elected him–all–in the name of political expediency.
For all of my criticism of Obama, I am clear that he did not create the mess in the US Senate and now it appears why he could not exercise the “leadership” that everybody was calling on him for. People like Harry Reid and Steny Hoyer were pre-emptively cutting bad deals and forcing them on him. The Congressional caucus defeated itself by failing to do the right thing.
There is no reason for this not to be out in the open now. There is no reason for all of the Congressional corruption and betrayals not to come out in the open now. In the next two years, a hardnosed White House is one of the defenses against a runaway Congress drunk on its manufactured mandate. I just hope the White House has good sense about what to be hardnosed about.
“Keep your powder dry” Harry Reid comes out of the closet for the corporate tool he has always been. Tis OK. He’s going to retire or go down in the next election as a result of his own actions over a decade.
This is who Obama is when he no longer needs to give a crap about what Congressional Dem hacks think or want. Works for me.
I think the idea is NOT to have Reid filibuster things that can be vetoed. The Democrats have been complaining about McConnelling all legislation. So, let the legislation pass that isn’t abhorrent (though these tax breaks come close) and then let the President veto it.
It allows for the Senate to possible pass some moderately unhorrible legislation that can then die in the House.
It still blows my mind that Reid has no competition for leader.
Why? Frankly, I’m surprised Pelosi hasn’t been dumped. When does a former Speaker stay on as Minority Leader for at least 6 years? Doesn’t happen. Is anyone pissed about her appointment of Steve Israel and what a disaster that was?
Steny Hoyer’s the big surprise in the House. I do believe they finally dumped Steve Israel but replaced him with a twin.
What about Steny? He’d be 10 times worse. Then again, he probably doesn’t want to be Minority Leader at this time since there is little hope of becoming Speaker any time soon.