Republican retreat sees tax cuts approved
Source: Agencies |
December 24, 2011, Saturday
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CONGRESS yesterday approved a two-month renewal of payroll tax cuts for 160 million American workers and unemployment benefits for millions, handing President Barack Obama a convincing victory for his jobs agenda.
Back-to-back voice vote approvals of the measure by the Senate and House capped a retreat by House Republicans who had insisted that a full-year bill was the only way to prevent an immediate tax increase on January 1.
The developments were a clear win for Obama. The payroll tax cut was the centerpiece of his three-month, campaign-style drive for jobs legislation that seems to have contributed to an uptick in his poll numbers - and taken a toll on those of congressional Republicans.
House Republicans were under fire from their constituents and Republican establishment figures incensed that they would risk losing the tax cut issue to Democrats at the dawn of the 2012 presidential and congressional election year in which Obama is seeking a second term.
The measure passed despite lingering grumbling from conservative tea party Republicans. It buys time for negotiations early next year on how to finance a year-long extension of the 2 percentage point payroll tax cut.
It will keep in place a salary boost of about US$20 a week for an average worker making US$50,000 a year and prevent almost 2 million unemployed people from losing jobless benefits averaging US$300 a week.
Passage in the House of the measure took less than a minute. Republican efforts to force a holiday season confrontation with Obama and Senate Democrats had threatened millions of workers. But it backfired badly.
Preventing the tax hike and extending jobless benefits had been embraced by virtually every lawmaker in the House and Senate but had been derailed in a quarrel over demands by House Republicans for immediate negotiations on a long-term bill.
Thursday's decision by the Republican leader of the House, Speaker John Boehner, to cave in to the Senate came after days of criticism from Obama and Democrats. But perhaps more tellingly, Republican stalwarts, including strategist Karl Rove, warned that if the tax cuts were allowed to expire, Republicans would take a political beating that would harm efforts to unseat Obama next year.
House Republican arguments about what the "uncertainty" of a two-month extension would mean for businesses were unpersuasive, and Obama took the offensive.
Back-to-back voice vote approvals of the measure by the Senate and House capped a retreat by House Republicans who had insisted that a full-year bill was the only way to prevent an immediate tax increase on January 1.
The developments were a clear win for Obama. The payroll tax cut was the centerpiece of his three-month, campaign-style drive for jobs legislation that seems to have contributed to an uptick in his poll numbers - and taken a toll on those of congressional Republicans.
House Republicans were under fire from their constituents and Republican establishment figures incensed that they would risk losing the tax cut issue to Democrats at the dawn of the 2012 presidential and congressional election year in which Obama is seeking a second term.
The measure passed despite lingering grumbling from conservative tea party Republicans. It buys time for negotiations early next year on how to finance a year-long extension of the 2 percentage point payroll tax cut.
It will keep in place a salary boost of about US$20 a week for an average worker making US$50,000 a year and prevent almost 2 million unemployed people from losing jobless benefits averaging US$300 a week.
Passage in the House of the measure took less than a minute. Republican efforts to force a holiday season confrontation with Obama and Senate Democrats had threatened millions of workers. But it backfired badly.
Preventing the tax hike and extending jobless benefits had been embraced by virtually every lawmaker in the House and Senate but had been derailed in a quarrel over demands by House Republicans for immediate negotiations on a long-term bill.
Thursday's decision by the Republican leader of the House, Speaker John Boehner, to cave in to the Senate came after days of criticism from Obama and Democrats. But perhaps more tellingly, Republican stalwarts, including strategist Karl Rove, warned that if the tax cuts were allowed to expire, Republicans would take a political beating that would harm efforts to unseat Obama next year.
House Republican arguments about what the "uncertainty" of a two-month extension would mean for businesses were unpersuasive, and Obama took the offensive.
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