Tweet
Has John Boehner lost control?
By: Jonathan Allen and Seung Min Kim
December 20, 2011 06:32 AM EST
First, John Boehner wanted the Senate to pass a payroll tax cut bill. Then, he wanted to make a show of killing it. Now, he won’t hold a House vote on it at all.
In the last and biggest political test of a wild year — Boehner’s final exam for 2012 — the House speaker has shown yet again that he doesn’t have the juice to whip his troops into line. If anything, it is rank-and-file House Republicans who are continually snapping their leader back to the pack when he gets too far out in front of them.
His plans change with their whims, the latest of which is to escalate a battle with a nearly unified Senate and President Barack Obama over a two-month extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut, welfare and unemployment programs, and current Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors.
GOP leaders on Monday abandoned a day-old proposal to vote down the Senate bill, which would have required Republicans to to defy their brand by going on record against a tax cut. Now, they’re portraying a procedural vote to create a House-Senate conference as an implicit rejection of the Senate’s bill. Republicans believe they can win a showdown with the Senate and either get the full-year extension of the payroll tax cut they seek or win the public relations war if 160 million working Americans see their taxes rise in January.
It’s a high-risk strategy with little reward available: In the worst-case scenario, House Republicans would take sole blame for raising taxes, cutting welfare and unemployment benefits just after Christmas and slashing reimbursement rates for doctors who treat Medicare patients. House Democrats now sense a potential game-changer for their prospects of winning control of the chamber in 2012, which have been dim.
Some Republicans said privately that they weren’t certain that the strategy would work.
“We’ll find out,” said one.
But the best outcome for House Republicans is that they extract a measure of pain from the Senate, forcing minor concessions in a negotiation where the major sticking point between the two sides is whether the extension of expiring laws lasts for two months or 11 months. Facing vocal opposition from the president, Democrats and even some of their fellow Republicans in the Senate, Republicans could take a shellacking in the court of public opinion even if they manage to rewrite the bill.
Either way, they’re playing into Obama’s plans to run against the widely and deeply unpopular Congress.
Boehner’s camp insists everything is going according to script.
“Our goal, from start to finish, has been to avoid a tax hike, extend and reform unemployment insurance, protect Social Security, and help create jobs. The best way to accomplish that goal right now is for a conference committee to resolve the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. “This is regular order — the system that our founders created to craft legislation, and House Republicans promised to restore.”
But the endgame reads more like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book than a carefully scripted drama.
And Boehner’s not alone in getting twist-turned upside down. Seeking political advantage in the moment, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are attacking him for suggesting that the two chambers resolve their differences in the time-honored way, by meeting in a conference committee.
“House Republicans claim to support this middle-class tax cut, but they are really trying to bury it in a committee,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement released late Monday night. “Speaker Boehner is using one of the oldest tricks in Washington of claiming to support something and then sending it to the legislative graveyard where it never sees the light of day.”
In more than two decades, Schumer has served on conference committees that created the H-1B visa program, gave extra health insurance benefits to people with disabilities, established the COPS program, and, in the last Congress, enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulations. There’s little doubt that he could provide a much longer list on command.
Still, it’s clear Democrats believe they have the upper hand — and they’re excited over the prospect of Republicans calling even more attention to the battle over the payroll tax cut.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) held an impromptu press conference late Monday night just a handful of steps from the House floor.
“So, here we are, just a few days before Christmas and the Republicans are just coming up with another excuse,” Pelosi said. “It’s just the ridiculous tea party Republicans who are holding up this tax cut for the American people and jeopardizing economic growth.”
If the battle lines were purely partisan, House Republicans might be on firmer ground. But the Senate passed its version of the bill 89-10 after McConnell and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) cut a deal. Five Senate Republicans castigated their House colleagues on Monday for not simply passing the Senate bill and ensuring that the tax cut goes through.
“[T]here is no reason to hold up the short-term extension while a more comprehensive deal is being worked out,” Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
But House Republicans say the two-month version is unacceptable — even as a patch.
“Frankly, the 60 days pissed a lot of people off, just cutting the package down, taking out all of our reforms that were in there,” Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) said after Monday night’s meeting of the House Republican Conference.
And some are assigning bad motives to their Democratic colleagues.
“I think what this is, is a leverage point for the president to say that — cover for his failures, for him to say that the Republicans are going to raise taxes on the, quote, unquote, . It will enable him to continue on with his very divisive rhetoric about millionaires and billionaires,” Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) told FOX News’ Greta Van Susteren. “I really think in my heart of hearts that the Democrats do want to see this payroll tax expire so that they can use it going into next year as a political talking point in the election cycle.”
If West is right, House Republicans appear to be playing into their hands — and Boehner has little power to change their course.
— Darren Goode contributed to this story
By: Jonathan Allen and Seung Min Kim
December 20, 2011 06:32 AM EST
First, John Boehner wanted the Senate to pass a payroll tax cut bill. Then, he wanted to make a show of killing it. Now, he won’t hold a House vote on it at all.
In the last and biggest political test of a wild year — Boehner’s final exam for 2012 — the House speaker has shown yet again that he doesn’t have the juice to whip his troops into line. If anything, it is rank-and-file House Republicans who are continually snapping their leader back to the pack when he gets too far out in front of them.
His plans change with their whims, the latest of which is to escalate a battle with a nearly unified Senate and President Barack Obama over a two-month extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut, welfare and unemployment programs, and current Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors.
GOP leaders on Monday abandoned a day-old proposal to vote down the Senate bill, which would have required Republicans to to defy their brand by going on record against a tax cut. Now, they’re portraying a procedural vote to create a House-Senate conference as an implicit rejection of the Senate’s bill. Republicans believe they can win a showdown with the Senate and either get the full-year extension of the payroll tax cut they seek or win the public relations war if 160 million working Americans see their taxes rise in January.
It’s a high-risk strategy with little reward available: In the worst-case scenario, House Republicans would take sole blame for raising taxes, cutting welfare and unemployment benefits just after Christmas and slashing reimbursement rates for doctors who treat Medicare patients. House Democrats now sense a potential game-changer for their prospects of winning control of the chamber in 2012, which have been dim.
Some Republicans said privately that they weren’t certain that the strategy would work.
“We’ll find out,” said one.
But the best outcome for House Republicans is that they extract a measure of pain from the Senate, forcing minor concessions in a negotiation where the major sticking point between the two sides is whether the extension of expiring laws lasts for two months or 11 months. Facing vocal opposition from the president, Democrats and even some of their fellow Republicans in the Senate, Republicans could take a shellacking in the court of public opinion even if they manage to rewrite the bill.
Either way, they’re playing into Obama’s plans to run against the widely and deeply unpopular Congress.
Boehner’s camp insists everything is going according to script.
“Our goal, from start to finish, has been to avoid a tax hike, extend and reform unemployment insurance, protect Social Security, and help create jobs. The best way to accomplish that goal right now is for a conference committee to resolve the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. “This is regular order — the system that our founders created to craft legislation, and House Republicans promised to restore.”
But the endgame reads more like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book than a carefully scripted drama.
And Boehner’s not alone in getting twist-turned upside down. Seeking political advantage in the moment, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are attacking him for suggesting that the two chambers resolve their differences in the time-honored way, by meeting in a conference committee.
“House Republicans claim to support this middle-class tax cut, but they are really trying to bury it in a committee,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement released late Monday night. “Speaker Boehner is using one of the oldest tricks in Washington of claiming to support something and then sending it to the legislative graveyard where it never sees the light of day.”
In more than two decades, Schumer has served on conference committees that created the H-1B visa program, gave extra health insurance benefits to people with disabilities, established the COPS program, and, in the last Congress, enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulations. There’s little doubt that he could provide a much longer list on command.
Still, it’s clear Democrats believe they have the upper hand — and they’re excited over the prospect of Republicans calling even more attention to the battle over the payroll tax cut.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Assistant Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) held an impromptu press conference late Monday night just a handful of steps from the House floor.
“So, here we are, just a few days before Christmas and the Republicans are just coming up with another excuse,” Pelosi said. “It’s just the ridiculous tea party Republicans who are holding up this tax cut for the American people and jeopardizing economic growth.”
If the battle lines were purely partisan, House Republicans might be on firmer ground. But the Senate passed its version of the bill 89-10 after McConnell and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) cut a deal. Five Senate Republicans castigated their House colleagues on Monday for not simply passing the Senate bill and ensuring that the tax cut goes through.
“[T]here is no reason to hold up the short-term extension while a more comprehensive deal is being worked out,” Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
But House Republicans say the two-month version is unacceptable — even as a patch.
“Frankly, the 60 days pissed a lot of people off, just cutting the package down, taking out all of our reforms that were in there,” Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) said after Monday night’s meeting of the House Republican Conference.
And some are assigning bad motives to their Democratic colleagues.
“I think what this is, is a leverage point for the president to say that — cover for his failures, for him to say that the Republicans are going to raise taxes on the, quote, unquote, . It will enable him to continue on with his very divisive rhetoric about millionaires and billionaires,” Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) told FOX News’ Greta Van Susteren. “I really think in my heart of hearts that the Democrats do want to see this payroll tax expire so that they can use it going into next year as a political talking point in the election cycle.”
If West is right, House Republicans appear to be playing into their hands — and Boehner has little power to change their course.
— Darren Goode contributed to this story
The result of his ineffective leadership:
December 20, 2011
Republicans in House Reject Deal Extending Payroll Tax Cut
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday soundly rejected a bill approved by the Senate that would have extended the payroll tax cut for most Americans beyond the end of the year and allowed millions of unemployed people to continue receiving jobless benefits.
The House vote, which passed 229 to 193, also calls for establishing a negotiating committee so the two chambers can resolve their differences. Seven Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
But the Senate has left town for the year, and Democrats say they do not intend to call it back, putting continuation of the tax cut in jeopardy and leaving a shadow over many unemployed Americans as the holidays near.
It was far from clear whether the two sides would be able to bridge the gap by year’s end. If they fail to do so, payroll taxes for 160 million Americans will rise to 6.2 percent, from 4.2 percent, in January, for an average annual increase of roughly $1,000.
Republicans said the two-month extensions provided by the Senate bill left too much uncertainty at a time of deep economic vulnerability and would leave Congress facing the same thorny issues early in the new year. They said it was a deeply inadequate half-measure that represented the old ways of Congress.
Immediately after the vote, Speaker John A. Boehner released a letter to the president, saying that he agreed with Mr. Obama on the need for a full-year extension of the tax cut and unemployment benefits.
“There are still 11 days before the end of the year, and with so many Americans struggling, there is no reason they should be wasted,” Mr. Boehner wrote. “You have said many times that Congress must do its work before taking vacation. Because we agree, our negotiators and the House stand ready to work through the holidays. I ask you to call on the Senate to return to appoint negotiators so that we can provide the American people the economic certainty they need.”
But in a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room immediately after the vote, President Obama called on House Republican leaders to approve the Senate bill, saying that it was the only way forward. Without such action, the president said, not only would taxes go up and millions of Americans would lose their unemployment benefits, but the economy would suffer as paychecks shrunk.
“Right now, the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on Jan. 1 — it’s the only one,” Mr. Obama said.
Speaking with somber intensity, Mr. Obama, who had just returned from a ceremony at Andrews Air Base marking the end of the Iraq war, said that the stakes for Americans were high. “This is not poker, this is not a game, this shouldn’t be politics as usual,” he said.
“The recovery is fragile but it is moving in the right direction,” Mr. Obama said, adding that failure to act quickly “could have an effect on the economy as a whole.”
“The clock is ticking, time is running out, and if House Republicans refuse to vote for the Senate bill or even allow it to come up for a vote, taxes will go up in 11 days,” the president said.
Rather than have a straight up-or-down vote, the House on Tuesday implemented a procedural maneuver in which it “rejected” the Senate bill while requesting to go to conference with members of that chamber in a single measure, protecting House members from having to actually cast a politically unpopular vote against extending a payroll tax cut.
Before the vote, Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a member of the House Republican leadership, said on CNN that “House Republicans stand ready to work over the holidays, like many other Americans have to do, to get this done.”
Democrats, seeming to feel the political wind at their back, said the other party had missed its best chance to protect the economic interests of the middle class.
The bill that the Senate passed on Saturday, in an 89-to-10 vote, would also prevent a sharp cut in the fees paid to doctors who accept Medicare. Some Republican senators, including Senator Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts and Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, have called on their counterparts in the House to support that vote.
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, blaming “the extreme Tea Party element of the Republicans in the House,” noted during the floor debate that Republicans had said a two-month extension was too short. “They’ve never wanted a tax cut, and now they’re saying the tax cut for middle-income people is too small,” she said. “So what is it?”
With tempers growing short and pressure rising for a deal, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican leader, seemed to strike a particularly conciliatory tone.
“We need to come together in a responsible manner to find common ground where we can accomplish everyone’s goal of a year-long payroll tax extension,” Mr. Cantor said during the floor debate. “Mr. Speaker, there is no reason why the House, the Senate and the president cannot spend next two weeks working to get that done. America will be waiting.”
Senate Democrats, however, have said they would not return to the Capitol to negotiate further until the House passed the short-term bill, one that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, negotiated and voted for, along with 38 other Republican senators on Saturday.
The House had been planning to vote on the two-month payroll tax bill on Monday night. But after a two-hour meeting of their caucus, House Republican leaders postponed the floor debate and the vote to Tuesday.
During the conference meeting among Republican members, some members expressed concern about effectively voting for a tax increase on the eve of an election year, said some who attended.
The standoff leaves Mr. Boehner ending the year exactly where he began, in the middle of a nasty fiscal fight with Senate Democrats and his conservative freshmen in revolt, making it difficult to find a middle ground between mollifying his conference and coming up with legislation to avert disaster. But Mr. Boehner said repeatedly on Monday that he believed a deal for a one-year extension could still be struck, even with the Senate essentially adjourned for the year and the tax break set to expire on Jan. 1.
“I don’t believe the differences are that significant that we can’t do this for a whole year,” Mr. Boehner said. “Why punt this until the end of February when we can just do this now and get it over with?”
Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, urged Mr. Boehner to allow an up-or-down vote. ”With millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, it would be unconscionable for Speaker Boehner to block a bipartisan agreement that would protect middle-class families from the thousand-dollar tax increase looming on January first,” Mr. Reid said in a statement.
Jennifer Steinhauer and Robert Pear contributed reporting.
Republicans in House Reject Deal Extending Payroll Tax Cut
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday soundly rejected a bill approved by the Senate that would have extended the payroll tax cut for most Americans beyond the end of the year and allowed millions of unemployed people to continue receiving jobless benefits.
The House vote, which passed 229 to 193, also calls for establishing a negotiating committee so the two chambers can resolve their differences. Seven Republicans joined Democrats in opposition.
But the Senate has left town for the year, and Democrats say they do not intend to call it back, putting continuation of the tax cut in jeopardy and leaving a shadow over many unemployed Americans as the holidays near.
It was far from clear whether the two sides would be able to bridge the gap by year’s end. If they fail to do so, payroll taxes for 160 million Americans will rise to 6.2 percent, from 4.2 percent, in January, for an average annual increase of roughly $1,000.
Republicans said the two-month extensions provided by the Senate bill left too much uncertainty at a time of deep economic vulnerability and would leave Congress facing the same thorny issues early in the new year. They said it was a deeply inadequate half-measure that represented the old ways of Congress.
Immediately after the vote, Speaker John A. Boehner released a letter to the president, saying that he agreed with Mr. Obama on the need for a full-year extension of the tax cut and unemployment benefits.
“There are still 11 days before the end of the year, and with so many Americans struggling, there is no reason they should be wasted,” Mr. Boehner wrote. “You have said many times that Congress must do its work before taking vacation. Because we agree, our negotiators and the House stand ready to work through the holidays. I ask you to call on the Senate to return to appoint negotiators so that we can provide the American people the economic certainty they need.”
But in a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room immediately after the vote, President Obama called on House Republican leaders to approve the Senate bill, saying that it was the only way forward. Without such action, the president said, not only would taxes go up and millions of Americans would lose their unemployment benefits, but the economy would suffer as paychecks shrunk.
“Right now, the bipartisan compromise that was reached on Saturday is the only viable way to prevent a tax hike on Jan. 1 — it’s the only one,” Mr. Obama said.
Speaking with somber intensity, Mr. Obama, who had just returned from a ceremony at Andrews Air Base marking the end of the Iraq war, said that the stakes for Americans were high. “This is not poker, this is not a game, this shouldn’t be politics as usual,” he said.
“The recovery is fragile but it is moving in the right direction,” Mr. Obama said, adding that failure to act quickly “could have an effect on the economy as a whole.”
“The clock is ticking, time is running out, and if House Republicans refuse to vote for the Senate bill or even allow it to come up for a vote, taxes will go up in 11 days,” the president said.
Rather than have a straight up-or-down vote, the House on Tuesday implemented a procedural maneuver in which it “rejected” the Senate bill while requesting to go to conference with members of that chamber in a single measure, protecting House members from having to actually cast a politically unpopular vote against extending a payroll tax cut.
Before the vote, Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a member of the House Republican leadership, said on CNN that “House Republicans stand ready to work over the holidays, like many other Americans have to do, to get this done.”
Democrats, seeming to feel the political wind at their back, said the other party had missed its best chance to protect the economic interests of the middle class.
The bill that the Senate passed on Saturday, in an 89-to-10 vote, would also prevent a sharp cut in the fees paid to doctors who accept Medicare. Some Republican senators, including Senator Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts and Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, have called on their counterparts in the House to support that vote.
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, blaming “the extreme Tea Party element of the Republicans in the House,” noted during the floor debate that Republicans had said a two-month extension was too short. “They’ve never wanted a tax cut, and now they’re saying the tax cut for middle-income people is too small,” she said. “So what is it?”
With tempers growing short and pressure rising for a deal, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican leader, seemed to strike a particularly conciliatory tone.
“We need to come together in a responsible manner to find common ground where we can accomplish everyone’s goal of a year-long payroll tax extension,” Mr. Cantor said during the floor debate. “Mr. Speaker, there is no reason why the House, the Senate and the president cannot spend next two weeks working to get that done. America will be waiting.”
Senate Democrats, however, have said they would not return to the Capitol to negotiate further until the House passed the short-term bill, one that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, negotiated and voted for, along with 38 other Republican senators on Saturday.
The House had been planning to vote on the two-month payroll tax bill on Monday night. But after a two-hour meeting of their caucus, House Republican leaders postponed the floor debate and the vote to Tuesday.
During the conference meeting among Republican members, some members expressed concern about effectively voting for a tax increase on the eve of an election year, said some who attended.
The standoff leaves Mr. Boehner ending the year exactly where he began, in the middle of a nasty fiscal fight with Senate Democrats and his conservative freshmen in revolt, making it difficult to find a middle ground between mollifying his conference and coming up with legislation to avert disaster. But Mr. Boehner said repeatedly on Monday that he believed a deal for a one-year extension could still be struck, even with the Senate essentially adjourned for the year and the tax break set to expire on Jan. 1.
“I don’t believe the differences are that significant that we can’t do this for a whole year,” Mr. Boehner said. “Why punt this until the end of February when we can just do this now and get it over with?”
Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, urged Mr. Boehner to allow an up-or-down vote. ”With millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, it would be unconscionable for Speaker Boehner to block a bipartisan agreement that would protect middle-class families from the thousand-dollar tax increase looming on January first,” Mr. Reid said in a statement.
Jennifer Steinhauer and Robert Pear contributed reporting.
Comment