The Wall Street Journal reports that Newt Gingrich is urging House Republicans to give in, and go along with the White House and Democratic Senate on the payroll tax-cut extension. Gingrich does make clear that this is a calculation of the political realities — as a man who previously faced a Democratic president in government standoffs — while still siding with the GOP’s position in principle:
“Incumbent presidents have enormous advantages. And I think what Republicans ought to do is what’s right for America. They ought to do it calmly and pleasantly and happily,” Mr. Gingrich said when asked about the clash between President Barack Obama and House Republicans over extension of the payroll tax cut.
Mr. Gingrich made it clear he favored a one-year extension of the two-percentage point payroll tax cut, which expires Jan. 1, not the two-month extension that passed the Senate with bipartisan support. He called the Senate bill “an absurd dereliction of duty.”
