The Senate and House spent much of this week behind closed doors discussing the tax deductions that will expire in a few weeks. These Bush tax cuts that became law in 2001 and 2003 number in the 60s.
Other tax deductions dubbed the extenders, enjoyed by many small businesses for years and that expired last December, were also part of the lengthy talks. These extenders number in the 70s. Finally, by midday Thursday, the White House wanted to add the expiring tax deductions included in the 2009 stimulus bill into these talks. This brings the total number of tax deductions now under consideration by the negotiators to well over the 200 mark.
To help nudge the tax negotiations along,Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to call for a vote in the House of Representatives on only tax deductions enjoyed by the middle class. This vote passed late Thursday afternoon by a vote of 235-188.
The speaker-in-waiting, Congressman John Boehner, R-Ohio, called this maneuver chicken crap. His characterization was made because the middle-class tax-cut bill is considered DOA on the Senate side of the Capitol. The reason it is dead on arrival in the Senate is because earlier in the week, the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., unveiled a letter signed by all 42 GOP senators stating they will block consideration of all legislation until all of the Bush tax cuts are extended.
The letter is significant because it signals that the Senate Republicans have the votes to block all other legislation as it takes 60 votes to advance a bill in the Senate over a senators objection.
While the tax negotiations continued, the House passed a 30-day postponement of the cuts set to occur for doctors and hospitals when they submit their reimbursement bills to the government for seeing Medicare patents. This bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama shortly thereafter.
Then the House passed another temporary extension of the full funding of our federal departments and agencies. This will keep our government functioning until Dec. 18. The bill was necessary because this Pelosi/Reid-led Congress failed to pass these funding bills during the regular session of the 111th Congress. The Senate followed suit and passed this stopgap measure, assuring our federal government doesnt shut down.
Just before the House turned out its lights for the week, the full House voted to censure Congressman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. This was the result of the House Ethics Committee finding him guilty of violating House rules by failing to remember and therefore disclose that he had a rental condominium which earned him $600,000 over a 16-year period. Congressman Rangel spoke on the floor after the vote and called himself a victim.
Meanwhile, as the tax meetings continued, the Senate passed the FDA modernization act. This bill faces an uphill battle for passage in the House because the Senate added tax provisions. Tax provisions must originate in the House according to our Constitution and therefore the bill is in violation of House rules. This violation has thrown the bill into limbo as far as becoming a public law.
By the time the Senate received the middle-class tax-cut bill late Thursday evening, the tax negotiators were still at a stalemate. Notwithstanding the ongoing tax meetings, Sen. Reid teed up the bill for two votes on Saturday. They will involve a vote on the middle-class tax cuts and one on a tax cut for those making under $1 million. Both of the Democratic alternatives include the following additional provisions:
Alternative minimum tax relief.
- Repeal of the 1099 health care provision.
- Extension of the federal unemployment benefits.
- Estate tax alternative.
- Extending the "Making Work Pay" tax credits.
These additional provisions were included in the hope of getting at least two GOP senators to switch their position as stated in the McConnell letter and support one of these alternatives. The Saturday procedural votes require 60 senators to advance them further in the Senate. Many hill watchers are characterizing the two Saturday Senate votes as chicken-crap.
Stay tuned to see if the tax negotiators can propose some real alternatives that wont get dubbed farm-animal waste.
Elizabeth B. Letchworth is a retired, elected United States Senate secretary for the majority and minority. Currently she is a senior legislative adviser for Covington & Burling, LLC and is the founder of www.GradeGov.com.
