Dems to vote on just the Obama middle class tax cuts

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Greg Sargent at the Washington Post's Plum Line reports today Dems will vote on just middle class tax cuts, Hoyer says:

Steny Hoyer, the number two in the House Dem leadership, told Democrats at a caucus meeting this morning that they would get to vote this year on just extending the Bush tax cuts for the middle class [i.e., the Obama middle class tax cuts], a senior Dem aide tells me, signaling support for a confrontational move towards the GOP that liberals have been pushing.

Asked if Democrats would definitely get a chance to hold this vote, the senior aide responded: "Definitely."

* * *

[A]nother aide tells me that "more than half" of the Dem caucus supports this course of action.

Warning to any remaining conservadem Blue Dogs: fall in line! The Obama middle class tax cuts are the only ones you will be voting on. If you sell out the American middle class to do the bidding of the "two percenters" and enable the GOP, you will be primaried. Count on it.

The move indicates that House Dems are growing more resolved to draw a hard line on the Bush tax cuts, forcing Republicans to choose between supporting Obama's tax plan and opposing a tax cut for the middle class. However, the way forward still remains murky. Even if such a measure were to pass in the House, it's unclear whether the Senate will agree to such a vote, and the White House has not endorsed the approach.

President Obama needs to drop any pretense of a compromise – you cannot compromise with an opponent who believes in total victory and your demise. That is not a negotiating position. And Obama should stop negotiating against himself in pursuit of this ever-elusive "compromise." You're a lawyer Mr. President, you have been trained never to negotiate against yourself. Do what you have been trained to do.

President Obama must choose to be more like "give 'em hell" Harry Truman. State simply and clearly: "I have made my position clear. We simply cannot afford another $700 billion in additional debt over the next 10 years to borrow money to extend tax cuts to the top 2% of income earners. They are the only income group that has weathered and even prospered during the Bush Great Recession. I will not consider nor will I sign any extension of tax cuts for the top 2% of income earners. Should Congress send me such a bill I will veto it. The only offer on the table is an extension of tax cuts for the American middle class. Republicans in Congress must decide whether they want to deny the American middle class tax relief simply to serve the interests of the wealthiest Americans who do not need tax relief when their fellow American citizens are in difficult and often desperate economic circumstances. This is a small sacrifice to ask to restore our economy to health, and for the overall good of the country. Americans come together in times of national need. It is our patriotic duty."

Of course, the right-wing noise machine is already spinning the middle class tax cuts for 98% of Americans as a "tax hike" — because the top two percent, whom the Republican Party represents –would not get their tax cut. GOP response: Vote to continue just middle class tax cuts = tax hike:

Michael Steel, a spokesman for John Boehner, emails a response to the news that House Dems are planning to hold a vote just on extending the middle class tax cuts:

"The last thing our economy needs right now is a massive tax hike on families and small businesses — and that's what this plan would mean."

This is not the first time a vote just on extending the middle class tax cuts has been cast as a "tax hike."

* * *

The idea appears to be that any move towards separating the middle class and high-end cuts is automatically a tax hike because it increases the possibility that the high end ones won't be extended permanently.

What the hell difference does it make? Obama's Recovery Act gave 95% of Americans a tax cut over the past two years, yet the right-wing noise machine, the tail that wags the dog of the mainstream news media, had most Americans convinced that Obama raised their taxes. The Republicans will always claim that Democrats raised taxes even when it is patently untrue. Truth does not factor into the propaganda of the right-wing noise machine in the age of Post-Truth Politics. Paralysis over fear of these claims in the media makes no sense. It's going to happen in any case. So just do the right thing.