Byron York - In tax defeat, Dems pay the price for old tricks
Fast forward to this week. Those Bush cuts are expiring, and Democrats, still the majority party, wanted to extend them for everybody except individuals who make more than $200,000 a year and couples who make more than $250,000. Republicans, who have just 42 votes, wanted to extend all the cuts for all income levels. On Saturday, Democrats were unable to beat a Republican filibuster, and their version of tax cut extension went down to defeat.
So why not try reconciliation? If it was used to pass the Bush cuts in the first place, couldn't it have been used to extend them? That way, Democrats, who have 58 votes, could have passed their bill with just 51 and would not have had to worry about a GOP filibuster. Taxes on the "rich" would go up, and progressives everywhere would be celebrating today.
Alas, it didn't happen. And, although the details are complicated, the Democrats have only themselves to blame.
Susan Ferrechio - Obama, GOP shun deficit worries to cut tax deal
Just a month after angry voters chastised Washington for outlandish spending, President Obama and congressional Republicans appear to have abandoned concerns about a ballooning budget deficit and crafted a compromise on tax cuts and unemployment benefits that would add more than $270 billion to the deficit over the next two years.
That's the cost calculated by the Congressional Budget Office and Treasury officials of extending jobless benefits for a year in addition to a two-year extension of the tax cuts implemented by President Bush in 2001 and 2003 and set to expire Dec. 31. Other elements of the compromise, including a reduction in the payroll tax by 2 percentage points, would add to that cost.
Julie Mason - Obama, Republicans reach compromise on tax cuts, unemployment benefits
Making no secret of his profound distaste for a compromise that forced him to accept an extension of Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, Obama touted other elements of the package that would cut payroll taxes next year and extend tax breaks for families and college students.
"I know there's some people in my own party and in the other party who would rather prolong this battle, even if we can't reach a compromise," Obama said at the White House. "But I'm not willing to let working families across this country become collateral damage for political warfare here in Washington."
David Freddoso - A step in the right direction: Boehner backs Flake for seat on approps
This is good news for conservatives -- especially the part about getting more reform-minded members on the committee. But the most important decision comes Wednesday, when Republicans choose the committee's chairman. Two of the candidates -- Reps. Jerry Lewis, Calif., and Hal Rogers, Ky. -- represent the old regime and its culture of spending. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., although not necessarily the model of fiscal responsibility, has nonetheless presented the best plan so far, to return federal spending to 18 percent of GDP.
Mark Hemingway - What pay freeze? 1.1 million federal workers still getting $2.5 billion in pay increases
Remember that two-year federal pay freeze Obama proposed last week? Steve Losey at Federal Times has crunched the numbers, and it doesn't look like federal workers are are going to be hurting much. In fact, out of a workforce of about two million federal workers, the majority are still going to get raises in the next two years:
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