Washington December 14:
President Barack Obama’s tax deal with Republicans gained enough vote in the Senate on Monday to move forward to final passage as the White House charts an untested bipartisan course into the New Year.
The unusual alliance of Mr. Obama and leaders of both parties in the upper chamber eased the bill which averts a Jan. 1 income-tax increase for millions of Americans over the first procedural hurdle by an 83-15 vote. It easily surpassed the necessary 60 of 100 votes needed to move the compromise to a final vote.
Senate passage of the bill is expected as early as Tuesday, and in a brief appearance at the White House, Mr. Obama called on the House of Representatives to follow suit quickly. He spoke amid indications that a revolt among House Democratic liberals was ebbing, further improving prospects for quick enactment. The tax deal moved forward as Congress winds down a final session before the Democrats cede their majority to Republicans in the House of Representatives in the next Congress. It convenes in early January.
The Senate will remain under Democratic control, but the president’s party will hold a much diminished majority. It was that reality, the result of a Republican landslide in congressional elections last month that prompted Mr. Obama to strike the tax deal with Republicans. Lawmakers were eager to avert a Jan. The deal marks a test of how Mr. Obama will manage to govern without his party in control of both houses of Congress. His readiness to reach accommodation with the opposition party likely will set a pattern for the final two years of his term.
Eager to trumpet the Senate vote, Mr. Obama said even before the final tally was announced that it proved “that both parties can in fact work together to grow our economy and look out for the American people.” Despite strong criticism from fellow Democrats, Mr. Obama has made passage of the bill a key year-end priority, calling it essential for the economy as it struggles to recover from the worst recession in decades.
The compromise that came to a procedural vote in the Senate late Monday afternoon would extend Bush-era tax cuts for all income brackets despite Mr. Obama’s historic opposition to keeping lower rates in place for U.S. households earning more than $250,000 a year. Faced with the prospect of higher taxes across all income brackets, Mr. Obama chose compromise. In return, Republicans dropped opposition to an extension of payments to the long-term unemployed. The deal would guarantee those payments continue for 13 months.
Additionally, the plan would reduce payroll taxes by 2 per cent. Those assessments go to fund Social Security, the federal pension system for older and disabled Americans. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky welcomed Mr. Obama’s decision to move away from his opposition to extending the tax cuts for the wealthy. “This is an important shift, and the White House should be applauded for agreeing to it,” McConnell said. The bill’s overall cost, estimated at $858 billion over two years, would be added to already huge federal deficits.
The main sticking point is a big expansion of the ceiling at which estates are taxed. The leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, initially called that part of the deal “a bridge too far” and has been joined in hot opposition to that part of the measure by liberal Democrats in the lower house. The package Mr. Obama negotiated would set the top rate at 35 percent and exempt the first $5 million of an individual’s estate. Couples could exempt $10 million. Without the deal, the estate tax was scheduled to return next year to a top rate of 55 percent for estates larger than $1 million for individuals and $2 million for married couples.
In his remarks, Mr. Obama gave no indication he was willing to accept further changes to the plan he negotiated with senior Republicans. “I understand those concerns,” he said of objections from some of his usual allies in Congress. “I share some of them. But that’s the nature of compromise, sacrificing something that each of us cares about to move forward on what matters to all of us.” The remarks were directed largely at Democratic critics who last week vowed to prevent the bill from coming to the House floor unless it was changed to scale back the billions in relief ticketed to the wealthy.
Despite a vow among House Democrats to keep the measure from reaching the floor in the lower chamber, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Monday that he believed it would come to a vote. There needs to be a process of give and take and “I think that’s going to occur,” said Hoyer. He suggested possible amendments could address the estate tax issue. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, also a member of the Democratic leadership in the House, predicted liberals, including Pelosi, would not “hold this up” despite roiling anger among progressives.
President Barack Obama’s tax deal with Republicans gained enough vote in the Senate on Monday to move forward to final passage as the White House charts an untested bipartisan course into the New Year.
The unusual alliance of Mr. Obama and leaders of both parties in the upper chamber eased the bill which averts a Jan. 1 income-tax increase for millions of Americans over the first procedural hurdle by an 83-15 vote. It easily surpassed the necessary 60 of 100 votes needed to move the compromise to a final vote.
Senate passage of the bill is expected as early as Tuesday, and in a brief appearance at the White House, Mr. Obama called on the House of Representatives to follow suit quickly. He spoke amid indications that a revolt among House Democratic liberals was ebbing, further improving prospects for quick enactment. The tax deal moved forward as Congress winds down a final session before the Democrats cede their majority to Republicans in the House of Representatives in the next Congress. It convenes in early January.
The Senate will remain under Democratic control, but the president’s party will hold a much diminished majority. It was that reality, the result of a Republican landslide in congressional elections last month that prompted Mr. Obama to strike the tax deal with Republicans. Lawmakers were eager to avert a Jan. The deal marks a test of how Mr. Obama will manage to govern without his party in control of both houses of Congress. His readiness to reach accommodation with the opposition party likely will set a pattern for the final two years of his term.
Eager to trumpet the Senate vote, Mr. Obama said even before the final tally was announced that it proved “that both parties can in fact work together to grow our economy and look out for the American people.” Despite strong criticism from fellow Democrats, Mr. Obama has made passage of the bill a key year-end priority, calling it essential for the economy as it struggles to recover from the worst recession in decades.
The compromise that came to a procedural vote in the Senate late Monday afternoon would extend Bush-era tax cuts for all income brackets despite Mr. Obama’s historic opposition to keeping lower rates in place for U.S. households earning more than $250,000 a year. Faced with the prospect of higher taxes across all income brackets, Mr. Obama chose compromise. In return, Republicans dropped opposition to an extension of payments to the long-term unemployed. The deal would guarantee those payments continue for 13 months.
Additionally, the plan would reduce payroll taxes by 2 per cent. Those assessments go to fund Social Security, the federal pension system for older and disabled Americans. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky welcomed Mr. Obama’s decision to move away from his opposition to extending the tax cuts for the wealthy. “This is an important shift, and the White House should be applauded for agreeing to it,” McConnell said. The bill’s overall cost, estimated at $858 billion over two years, would be added to already huge federal deficits.
The main sticking point is a big expansion of the ceiling at which estates are taxed. The leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, initially called that part of the deal “a bridge too far” and has been joined in hot opposition to that part of the measure by liberal Democrats in the lower house. The package Mr. Obama negotiated would set the top rate at 35 percent and exempt the first $5 million of an individual’s estate. Couples could exempt $10 million. Without the deal, the estate tax was scheduled to return next year to a top rate of 55 percent for estates larger than $1 million for individuals and $2 million for married couples.
In his remarks, Mr. Obama gave no indication he was willing to accept further changes to the plan he negotiated with senior Republicans. “I understand those concerns,” he said of objections from some of his usual allies in Congress. “I share some of them. But that’s the nature of compromise, sacrificing something that each of us cares about to move forward on what matters to all of us.” The remarks were directed largely at Democratic critics who last week vowed to prevent the bill from coming to the House floor unless it was changed to scale back the billions in relief ticketed to the wealthy.
Despite a vow among House Democrats to keep the measure from reaching the floor in the lower chamber, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Monday that he believed it would come to a vote. There needs to be a process of give and take and “I think that’s going to occur,” said Hoyer. He suggested possible amendments could address the estate tax issue. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, also a member of the Democratic leadership in the House, predicted liberals, including Pelosi, would not “hold this up” despite roiling anger among progressives.
