Little-Acorn
09-14-2011, 11:23 AM
Remember back when the National Debt Ceiling Limit fight was going on? The new House Republicans were adamant that there could be NO tax increases. That was what they were elected to do, and they did it, to the considerable surprise of many Republican-watchers, including moi.
They stuck to their guns 100%, possibly for the first time in living Republican Party memory, and forced the Democrats and RINOs to pass bills that had no tax increases, nothing but spending cuts (those weren't actually cuts, but that's a subject for another thread). The resulting bill set up a committee to find some $1.2 trillion in spending cuts; and if they couldn't find them, automatic spending cuts would go into effect. ZERO tax increases, no matter what.
Fast forward to Sept. 2011. President Obama called a Joint Session of Congress for some reason, and while it was in session made a speech in which he announced he had a new "Jobs" bill that they must, must pass. He didn't actually have such a bill, but one was hastily written the following weekend, and now he's pushing that.
Well, guess what. His neo-JobsBill simply charges that committee from the Natl Debt Fight agreement, with finding $450 billion MORE spending cuts than they are already assigned to find. And if they can't find all of them, this "Jobs Bill" provides that automatic TAX INCREASES will go into effect.
Well, you new Republicans in the House, I'll bet you thought this matter was already settled. You stuck to your guns, and locked out every possible tax increase, and got the Democrats to agree.
You thought.
But these are Democrats you're dealing with. Welcome to Washington DC, suckers.
Your no-tax-increases agreement you thought you had, is about to get a BUNCH of tax increases.
Turns out that that "Supercommittee" idea you allowed into the Deficit Ceiling Agreement, is wildly popular with politicians who have a difficult job they would rather not do. Do you need to make a bunch of Spending Cuts that the leeches\\\\\\people whose funds are being cut, won't like? Just dump it all on a separate Committee. Then when they announce "their" cuts, you can just say, "They forced us, we didn't have any choice!".
And maybe you can get people to believe it.
And now the same can be done with tax increases. Just dump them on some Committee. The one that was just set up for spending cuts, will do just fine. And then you can have your tax increases, and protest, "Well, we had no choice, THEY blew it, not us!"
And maybe, again, you can get someone somewhere to believe you.
I had thought the blood would be ankle deep when this Committee came out with its "cuts".
But I was wrong. It's going to be hip-deep.
Well, the first violation of the National Debt Ceiling agreement is now on the way.
You're up, new House Republicans. You're going to have to re-fight the same no-tax-increases battle that you thought you had won.
And it's just the beginning.
-----------------------------------------
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/republicans-reject-taxes-on-the-rich-to-pay-for-jobs-bill.php
Republicans Reject Taxes On The Rich To Pay For Jobs Bill — But That’s Not Obama’s Plan
Brian Beutler | September 13, 2011, 10:42AM
Top Republicans in the House and Senate put the kibosh Tuesday on President Obama's plan to pay for a $447 billion jobs bill by closing tax loopholes and ending tax credits benefiting wealthy Americans. But the fine print in Obama's jobs bill actually treats the tax increases as an enforcement mechanism -- a trigger -- and the jury's still out on whether they'll accept the actual pay-for in the jobs bill, which tasks the joint deficit Super Committee with finding the offsets.
"The half-trillion dollar tax hike the White House proposed yesterday will not only face a tough road in Congress among Republicans, but from Democrats too," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
At a press conference at RNC headquarters, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) echoed this view.
But if you read the jobs bill, it states in the dense language of legislation that the tax increases only take effect if the new Super Committee doesn't find an additional $450 billion in deficit reduction, beyond the $1.2 trillion they're tasked with passing.
"If a joint committee bill achieving an amount greater than "$1,650,000,000,000" in deficit reduction as provided in section 401(b)(3)(B)(i)(II) of this Act is enacted by January 15, 2012, then the amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 made by subtitles A through E of title IV of the American Jobs Act of 2011, shall not be in effect for any taxable year."
In other words, the White House's first choice would be for the Super Committee to "go big" and find much more deficit reduction than they're obligated to by the debt limit law. And they would count those additional savings toward the cost of the jobs bill. But if the panel can't do more than the bare minimum, the tax increases would go into effect.
They stuck to their guns 100%, possibly for the first time in living Republican Party memory, and forced the Democrats and RINOs to pass bills that had no tax increases, nothing but spending cuts (those weren't actually cuts, but that's a subject for another thread). The resulting bill set up a committee to find some $1.2 trillion in spending cuts; and if they couldn't find them, automatic spending cuts would go into effect. ZERO tax increases, no matter what.
Fast forward to Sept. 2011. President Obama called a Joint Session of Congress for some reason, and while it was in session made a speech in which he announced he had a new "Jobs" bill that they must, must pass. He didn't actually have such a bill, but one was hastily written the following weekend, and now he's pushing that.
Well, guess what. His neo-JobsBill simply charges that committee from the Natl Debt Fight agreement, with finding $450 billion MORE spending cuts than they are already assigned to find. And if they can't find all of them, this "Jobs Bill" provides that automatic TAX INCREASES will go into effect.
Well, you new Republicans in the House, I'll bet you thought this matter was already settled. You stuck to your guns, and locked out every possible tax increase, and got the Democrats to agree.
You thought.
But these are Democrats you're dealing with. Welcome to Washington DC, suckers.
Your no-tax-increases agreement you thought you had, is about to get a BUNCH of tax increases.
Turns out that that "Supercommittee" idea you allowed into the Deficit Ceiling Agreement, is wildly popular with politicians who have a difficult job they would rather not do. Do you need to make a bunch of Spending Cuts that the leeches\\\\\\people whose funds are being cut, won't like? Just dump it all on a separate Committee. Then when they announce "their" cuts, you can just say, "They forced us, we didn't have any choice!".
And maybe you can get people to believe it.
And now the same can be done with tax increases. Just dump them on some Committee. The one that was just set up for spending cuts, will do just fine. And then you can have your tax increases, and protest, "Well, we had no choice, THEY blew it, not us!"
And maybe, again, you can get someone somewhere to believe you.
I had thought the blood would be ankle deep when this Committee came out with its "cuts".
But I was wrong. It's going to be hip-deep.
Well, the first violation of the National Debt Ceiling agreement is now on the way.
You're up, new House Republicans. You're going to have to re-fight the same no-tax-increases battle that you thought you had won.
And it's just the beginning.
-----------------------------------------
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/republicans-reject-taxes-on-the-rich-to-pay-for-jobs-bill.php
Republicans Reject Taxes On The Rich To Pay For Jobs Bill — But That’s Not Obama’s Plan
Brian Beutler | September 13, 2011, 10:42AM
Top Republicans in the House and Senate put the kibosh Tuesday on President Obama's plan to pay for a $447 billion jobs bill by closing tax loopholes and ending tax credits benefiting wealthy Americans. But the fine print in Obama's jobs bill actually treats the tax increases as an enforcement mechanism -- a trigger -- and the jury's still out on whether they'll accept the actual pay-for in the jobs bill, which tasks the joint deficit Super Committee with finding the offsets.
"The half-trillion dollar tax hike the White House proposed yesterday will not only face a tough road in Congress among Republicans, but from Democrats too," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.
At a press conference at RNC headquarters, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) echoed this view.
But if you read the jobs bill, it states in the dense language of legislation that the tax increases only take effect if the new Super Committee doesn't find an additional $450 billion in deficit reduction, beyond the $1.2 trillion they're tasked with passing.
"If a joint committee bill achieving an amount greater than "$1,650,000,000,000" in deficit reduction as provided in section 401(b)(3)(B)(i)(II) of this Act is enacted by January 15, 2012, then the amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 made by subtitles A through E of title IV of the American Jobs Act of 2011, shall not be in effect for any taxable year."
In other words, the White House's first choice would be for the Super Committee to "go big" and find much more deficit reduction than they're obligated to by the debt limit law. And they would count those additional savings toward the cost of the jobs bill. But if the panel can't do more than the bare minimum, the tax increases would go into effect.