While White House and congressional negotiators meet to break the tax cut gridlock, and the Senate is frozen in place under a blanket Republican filibuster threat, House Democrats will press ahead with a vote tomorrow morning to extend tax cuts on middle-income alone.
At his weekly press availability, House Majority Leaders Steny Hoyer (D-MD) predicted that the measure would face still resistance from the GOP, but would not interfere with broader compromise negotiations.
“What we have agreement on is being held hostage by what we do not have agreement on — that is the taxes for the wealthiest Americans,” Hoyer said. “One of the things that was discussed yesterday with the president was that where we can find common ground, we ought to move on it. We ought to move forward.”
The vote will reinforce a key distinction between the parties — the fact that Republicans oppose tax cuts for everybody unless the wealthiest Americans continue to pay Bush-era rates on all of their income. “This matter moving forward should not undermine negotiations on a compromise,” Hoyer said. “This does, however, give every member the opportunity to express their view [that] we do not want, particularly at this time of economic growth, but slow growth, to have the middle income folks have [a tax] increase.”
The measure could be brought up under special procedural circumstances which would fast-track the vote, but require a two-thirds majority of the House to pass. Under those circumstances it would likely fail.
In the Senate, the situation is much different. Yesterday, Democratic aides said that the Senate would eschew symbolic votes until White House and congressional principles reached a consensus on the Bush tax cuts. But this morning, Republicans put a kibosh on just about all of the Democrats’ plans. In a letter they announced that they will block debate on all issues until the Senate passes GOP-friendly tax cut extensions and funding for the federal government.
Under normal rules, House legislation requires a simple majority for passage. However, those rules also allow Republicans to use procedural tools that could stymie the Democrats’ efforts.
