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Obama plan set for House nod
By Charles Babington |
December 10, 2010, Friday
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SLOWLY, painfully and reluctantly, congressional Democrats are slogging their way toward acceptance of US President Barack Obama's tax cut compromise, which would let rich and poor Americans keep Bush-era tax cuts that were scheduled to expire this month.
After Obama publicly defended the plan for a third day on Wednesday, and Vice President Joe Biden met with Democratic lawmakers in the Capitol for a second day, several Democrats predicted the measure will pass, mainly because of extensive Republican support.
House Representative of Massachusetts Barney Frank, predicted the tax cut compromise "will be passed by virtually all the Republicans and a minority of Democrats." He said he would vote against it.
Even among Democrats, "there's more support in the caucus than there appears," Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia told reporters after he and fellow Democrats met with Biden. "I think some people felt they had to vent."
Obama said more congressional Democrats would climb aboard as they studied details of the US$900 billion year-end measure.
Raising the direst alarm yet, his administration warned fellow Democrats that if they defeat the plan, they could jolt the nation back into recession.
Larry Summers, Obama's chief economic adviser, told reporters that if the measure isn't passed soon, it will "materially increase the risk the economy would stall out and we would have a double-dip" recession. That put the White House in the unusual position of warning its own party's lawmakers they could be to blame for calamitous consequences if they go against the president.
With many House and Senate Republicans signaling their approval of the plan, the White House's comments were aimed mainly at House Democrats who feel Obama went too far in yielding to Republicans' demands for continued income tax cuts and lower estate taxes for the wealthy.
Obama said the compromise was necessary because Republicans were prepared to let everyone's taxes rise and to block the extension of benefits for jobless Americans if they didn't get much of what they wanted.
After Obama publicly defended the plan for a third day on Wednesday, and Vice President Joe Biden met with Democratic lawmakers in the Capitol for a second day, several Democrats predicted the measure will pass, mainly because of extensive Republican support.
House Representative of Massachusetts Barney Frank, predicted the tax cut compromise "will be passed by virtually all the Republicans and a minority of Democrats." He said he would vote against it.
Even among Democrats, "there's more support in the caucus than there appears," Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia told reporters after he and fellow Democrats met with Biden. "I think some people felt they had to vent."
Obama said more congressional Democrats would climb aboard as they studied details of the US$900 billion year-end measure.
Raising the direst alarm yet, his administration warned fellow Democrats that if they defeat the plan, they could jolt the nation back into recession.
Larry Summers, Obama's chief economic adviser, told reporters that if the measure isn't passed soon, it will "materially increase the risk the economy would stall out and we would have a double-dip" recession. That put the White House in the unusual position of warning its own party's lawmakers they could be to blame for calamitous consequences if they go against the president.
With many House and Senate Republicans signaling their approval of the plan, the White House's comments were aimed mainly at House Democrats who feel Obama went too far in yielding to Republicans' demands for continued income tax cuts and lower estate taxes for the wealthy.
Obama said the compromise was necessary because Republicans were prepared to let everyone's taxes rise and to block the extension of benefits for jobless Americans if they didn't get much of what they wanted.
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