Finding it hard to sort thru all the gunk around fiscal cliff discussions?
Hard to remember more confusion around basic pocketbook politics.
Let me take a NON-partison shot – please correct me if I mess up.
FIRST – who is waiting on whom? House members are trickling into D.C.; the Senate's been back since right after Christmas. Speaker Boehner believes the ball is in the Senate’s court, hence his pleas for them to vote on a measure the House sent over many months ago. He's apparently forgotten the Senate DID consider it, debated it, voted on it, rejected it. Which is why he put together his own bill, which crashed & burned when he couldn't muster Republican votes for it to pass the GOP-controlled House. Does that sound spot on to you?
SECOND - what happened to the bill that passed the Senate & was sent to the House for a vote? Speaker Boehner has not called for a vote on the bill, which would leave the tax cuts in place for all but the wealthiest Americans (who have benefited far more than any other group by the tax cuts). Pundits theorize he fears it could garner enough semi-centrist Republican votes to pass. So, from what I can see, he's ignoring the fact the Senate has considered the House bill, and rejected it, and the fact that the House won't even debate the bill the Senate sent over.
sigh.....
Confused? Who wouldn't be??
THIRD - never occurred to me until listening to conservative columnist David Brooks & progressive E.J. Dionne that it's political suicide for most Republican representatives to vote for increased taxes >BUT< if they let the tax rates go UP on everyone then after Jan 3 they can vote to LOWER tax rates on most folks, leaving higher taxes on wealthiest Americans without technically voting to raise taxes. Besides, if he asks GOP representatives to vote for taxes, Speaker Boehner puts his leadership in an iffy position.
This is bread & butter politics at its most basic - I strongly urge even the most politically disengaged to listen to the two pundits for yourself...
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