Posted on 12/03/2012 8:24:00 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Republican Doomsday Plan: Cave on Taxes, Vote 'Present'
By Jonathan Karl | ABC OTUS News
Republicans are seriously considering a Doomsday Plan if fiscal cliff talks collapse entirely. It's quite simple: House Republicans would allow a vote on extending the Bush middle class tax cuts (the bill passed in August by the Senate) and offer the President nothing more: no extension of the debt ceiling, nothing on unemployment, nothing on closing loopholes. Congress would recess for the holidays and the president would face a big battle early in the year over the debt ceiling.
Two senior Republican elected officials tell me this doomsday plan is becoming the most likely scenario. A top GOP House leadership aide confirms the plan is under consideration, but says Speaker Boehner has made no decision on whether to pursue it.
Under one variation of this Doomsday Plan, House Republicans would allow a vote on extending only the middle class tax cuts and Republicans, to express disapproval at the failure to extend all tax cuts, would vote "present" on the bill, allowing it to pass entirely on Democratic votes.
By doing this, Republicans avoid taking blame for tax increases on 98 percent of income tax payers. As one senior Republican in Congress told me, "You don't take a hostage you aren't willing to shoot." Republicans aren't willing to kill the middle class tax cuts, even if extending them alone will make it harder to later extend tax cuts on the wealthy.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., an influential conservative House Republican, is already on record supporting extending the middle class tax cuts - with or without the upper income tax cuts. On Sunday, he said Republicans should embrace the extension of the middle class tax cuts and take credit for it.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Fine with me.
Good!
That would force the Dems own the economy.
Ditto.
It’s the least they can do.
No vote to cut the mddle two rates by 10%.
Good plan. Blubbering Boehner better not screw it up.
The thing is, the Senate already passed this.
The House does not have to force the Senate to do anything else, if the House takes this path.
Rep Bonehead (aka, Boehner) can’t even vote present, can he?
After all, what’s left of his RINObrain hasn’t been conscious for the past thousand years or so.
Republicans are sooooo dead.
Long live the Tea Party.
You can’t give away the tax hikes without getting anything back.
Run over the cliff. That way we at least get spending caps out of the deal.
If people want lots of government goodies, they are going to have to pay lots of government taxes. Shielding the middle class from this simple reality does not help us.
Hit the gas.
The question would be, could the MSM spin it to blame the repubs anyway?
(not “would” - you know they would if they could)
agree 1000%....this has been my view from the get-go; vote present and put it in the rats laps...
I read that as “Republican Doomsday Plan: Cave in Texas, Vote ‘Present’”
I’d have voted “present” a few years ago to the local caves but they’re no longer civil defense shelters stocked with MREs.
The thing is - there’s not enough taxable wealth “out there” to afford the goodies that are being demanded.
Oh, and BTW... If the Republicans think voting “present” is going to get them off the hook for raising taxes, they have another thing coming!
We sent them to Congress to control taxes. They get no credit if they refuse to do their damn jobs! Voting present might as well be an “AYE” vote, as far as I am concerned.
In fact, I would respect a Congresscritter who actually voted AYE more than I would somebody who took the easy way out by voting “Present”. If the Republicans take this approach, I am one TeaPartier who will never support them again.
I guess I’m slowly becoming a believe in this.
Exactly. So maybe if people realize they have to pay the bills themselves, they will stop voting themselves goodies from the Treasury.
I am not going to vote to give myself a thousand dollars cash if I know that it will cost me two thousand dollars after the government gets done with all the postage and handling. But if I think I am going to get the money for free, why not?
Voting present is the coward's way out. If the GOP is afraid to stand on principle then it deserves to die.
First, hold a vote extending the Current Tax Rates for everyone. Republicans all vote “Yes!”
Second, hold a vote to repeal all the Current Tax Rates and revert to the higher Clinton Tax Rates. Republicans all vote “No!”
Third, let a Democrat propose raising taxes on the rich. Republicans all Abstain.
That works for me. I’ve been recommending it for a week or two, explicitly, here.
That is where I am at with this. Let all the Bush tax CUTS expire.
Let those that have ran around screaming they were for the “rich only” find out that the 47% that are not paying ANY taxes now are going to be hit and hit real hard when these tax cuts expire.
Let Obama, Reed and Pelosi own it and eat it.
The Republicans need to be prepared to NOT extend the debt limit. With all the new “revenue” generated from the new “taxes” the debt limit should not be extended......./s
If the Republicans want to hike taxes, they should have the guts to say so in an open vote.
Because, deep down, I know that they all want to do this. I know that they are all a bunch of inside-the-beltway tax and spenders, and the only way they ever vote with the people is if we have a hammer in one hand and a club in the other.
If we let them raise these taxes through the back door by voting "Present", we will be giving them exactly what they wanted all along, and further we will be telling them that that hammer and club we have been waving around all this time is just for show. They will never do the right thing again (after arranging to be "forced" into various traps more often then an old episode of The Perils of Pauline)
Then watch people scream, I already know what it will cost us...
go here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2964507/posts
I hope that, at least, the GOP would insist that there be no “sunset” on the middle class tax cuts.
This “doomsday” plan MUST make those cuts permanent.
I want to see all the Liberal Loons scream when the CPA's give them the bad news, for this years AMT, let alone next years.
The money for their boat or vacation will be out the window.
Ditto the loss of income with higher deductibles etc as their company continues to tweak their health care because they can't afford the Obamacare Mandates.
Enjoy your new found Wealth Shared Prosperity Comrades!!!!
I think this would be a great idea, but the media is going to blame everything on the Republicans. When the economy tanks, people will have less money, and the media will blame the Republicans because they didn’t vote to just raise the taxes on the rich.
If only we had even a semi-educated public that would not believe the lies of the MSM, I’d have no problem with this. No matter what happens to the economy, it will NEVER be the Messiah’s fault. NEVER.
Sounds good to me.
Don't you get it? There doesn't need to be a vote on raising taxes on the rich (read small businesses). Under the current law the rates automatically revert back to the Clinton rates. The Dems don't have to propose anything on raising taxes for the rich. It is a fait accompli.
Let let government go over the cliff, pass a bill declaring the country insolvent, and disolve the Union. The Red States walk away and form their own country without any liberal input.
Let let government go over the cliff, pass a bill declaring the country insolvent, and disolve the Union. The Red States walk away and form their own country without any liberal input.
This is irresponsible. Tax bill do not originate in the Senate and the House should not bring up nor vote on any tax bill that originates in the Senate (even if the Senate would have to vote for it again to keep the constitutional illusion).
Instead, the House should pass an extension of ALL ratesand nothing else, send that to the senate, then adjourn (This would need to be done close to the end of the year since Obama has the power to call the House back into session). The Senate would then act or not act.
The republicans in the House of Representatives need to stop planning on playing games, and sieze that power that they hold, the power of the purse. They can starve the beast if they have the courage.
This is the equivalent of a game of tug of war where one side observes that the other is stacked with ringers and is going to pull them right into the mud. So the decide to just let go of the rope at the first pull, yell out “you win!” and let the other side fall on it’s @$$es.
I like it. Very similar also to the intentional walk in baseball. Especially the time(s) Babe Ruth (or maybe it was Gehrig?) was intentionally walked with the bases already loaded.
If we roll over on this, we will never stand up for anything.
When the debt ceiling comes in January, we will find ourselves manuevered into a similar crisis, and we will cave again.
And when President Obama wants a couple Trillion for his next hairbrained scheme, we’ll give him what he wants, just to make the beating stop.
This is it. This is the hill. This is where we make a stand. Either the tax rates stay, of we hit the gas, cliff be damned. Because if we cave here, there is no reason for the Democrats to think we will ever stand firm at any other point.
And in 2014, the Democrats will relieve us of any responsibility when the voters throw out useless Republican Congresscritters wholesale. Why would anybody vote for a representative who will not hold the line when the chips are down? I would rather have a real Democrat than a fake Republican, because at least I know where the Democrat stands.
I think we need to outlaw this voting “present” BS.
Let the middle class continue to get its tax breaks. Leave the scheduled spending cuts alone, and let those happen.
“to express disapproval at the failure to extend all tax cuts, would vote “present” on the bill, allowing it to pass entirely on Democratic votes. “
By voting present Republicans are TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR PASSING IT!!!!
Agreed. That is a real plan. The Reps vote to extend the tax cuts (and make them permanent) and then go home. The Dems cannot blame the Reps for increasing taxes on the middle class and the Dems will then be placed in the position of preventing tax cuts for the middle class because they want to hold tax increases for the “rich” hostage at the expense of the middle class. The ball is then in their court.
If even one Republican votes in favor of the bill, the Democrats will then say it passed with "bipartisan support" , allowing them to spread the blame around when the s*** hits the fan.
If the Republicans will not stand up even for keeping existing tax rates, much less reducing them, I think we are better off just getting rid of Republicans altogether.
Because, hey, maybe this European Socialism thing will actually work. Maybe if the Democrats have a free hand, they can actually fashion a state-controlled economic system that will be reasonably prosperous, and we can all live happy lives.
But if the Republicans keep giving in a little bit at a time, but keep on throwing road-blocks along the way, there will be no opportunity to build a functioning Socialist state and we will wind up with no freedom and no properity.
Because if the Republicans are not willing to be the opposition, all they can do is gum up the works. If that is all they intend to do, we are better off without them.
I agree with you 100%.
Simple. Vote for what you want to do. Let the Democrats raise the taxes.
And anybody who votes "Present" on such a vital issue should be run out of town on a rail.
” Because if we cave here, there is no reason for the Democrats to think we will ever stand firm at any other point.”
And forget any chance of an (R) POTUS next time. It won’t happen......”Read my lips”.
Sounds like a plan. Before this I thought these fools couldn’t strategize their way out of a wet paper sack.
If they pull this “voting present” stunt, I look forward to hearing my Congresscritter explain to me in two years how he really is the lesser of two evils. Because if he will not stand up and be counted, he will be just as responsible.
As Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
If a Republican Congresscritter will not vote on such a clear-cut issue, it would be hard for me to include his name among the “good men”.
Nope, think debt ceiling.
Important to note - the dems think driving off the fiscal cliff is to their advantage. Question is make vote to make middle class tax cut permanent, second vote on extending the upper class tax cut until unemployment drops below 7% for 3 months in a row . . . let the spending cuts take place automatically . . . and sit back and watch the dems drive themselves over the cliff.
The Bush 2003 Business related Tax cuts go as well....
AKA, section 179 and accelerated depreciation and depreciation in general changes.
For those of you in Rio-Linda that means the small business man or women can't write off new equipment as fast, will buy less of it and further slow the economy...
As Dalereed observed in post #38, voting present is voting FOR a tax increase--pure and simple. We have a majority in the House and would essentially be giving that up to let the Dems have their way.
The main reason that Obama is pushing for tax increases (marginal rates) on the "rich" is to split and destroy the GOP. Voting present would effectively accomplish that objective.
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