Posted on 05/30/2003 2:20:19 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Republicans lawmakers are already planning to extend several tax cuts that are slated to “sunset” in the next year or two under a deal that kept the newly approved reductions to $350 billion.
In addition, Congress will most likely take up another bill to extend expiring tax cuts that were left out of the package that President Bush will sign into law today.
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has said the House may send “one or two” tax cut packages to the Senate as soon as this summer.
Some of the additional tax cuts, like the “extenders,” will most likely move next year, while some others could wait until the next Congress. But there is already a strong GOP constituency favoring further action.
“Once you cut a tax, it’s hard to let it go back up,” said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.). “In a stronger economy, which I think will be there,” said Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), there will be a call “not only to make these permanent, but to advance some others.”
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) cited the likelihood that Congress would act to extend the short-term tax cuts as her main reason for opposing the recently enacted legislation.
She called it a “trillion-dollar tax cut masquerading as $350 billion.”
Once again, Republicans could try to build a coalition with centrist Democrats.
“Absolutely — they should be made permanent,” said Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), one of two Democrats who supported the recent tax cut, “because it’s hard for a family or a small business to know what to do, when you’ve got a tax cut [that expires] like a quart of milk.”
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) predicted the dividend tax cut, the expanded child tax credit, and small business expensing provisions — all of which were included in the bill enacted last week — would be successfully extended.
“I assume once the public becomes comfortable with these laws, there’s going to be a fair amount of support for extending them,” he said.
Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said there are “at least” two elements of the just-passed tax cut that could be extended as early as next year: the expanded child tax credit (which would revert back to a lower level in 2004) and marriage penalty relief. He said some Republicans also want to act on more estate tax relief.
Grassley said that if lawmakers failed to extend expiring tax cuts, “Congress would be irresponsible, because we — without a vote of Congress — would allow the biggest tax increase in history to go into effect.”
Under this year’s budget resolution, any further tax cuts would need to move under regular floor procedures, meaning 60 votes would be needed to pass them in the Senate if they were filibustered.
The tax cuts that were enacted last week passed the Senate by a simple majority vote of 51-50 — relying on Vice President Cheney’s tie-breaking vote — because of special reconciliation procedures outlined in the budget resolution.
By cherry-picking popular tax breaks and trying to extend them during an election year, Republicans could seek to woo Democrats who rejected the larger tax cut bill. Several Democrats, including Sens. Evan Bayh (Ind.), John Breaux (La.), and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), voted against the final tax package but have expressed support for some of its key elements.
In general, however, the Democrats have opposed the Bush approach on the grounds that it tilted in favor of the rich and that it would spawn deficits that, in the long run, would cause interest rates to rise and damage the economy.
Most House Republicans appear to believe an ongoing tax cut fight will be useful as the 2004 elections approach.
“We won the battle, but not the war,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). “Now, I have the unfinished business of saying: ‘We’ve got to make the tax cuts permanent.’ It just builds it into all candidate debates.” Kingston said the Democrats “have given this institution’s majority party a permanent issue.”
This year’s budget resolution makes available $1.2 trillion for tax cuts, and Congress has used up only $350 billion so far. Pension reforms and extending the 2001 tax cuts are among options Republicans are considering, and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) will soon release a tax bill addressing foreign sales corporations.
A senior administration official said Congress probably would act next year on a separate package of “extenders” of other expiring tax breaks. These include popular programs like the research and development tax credit, tax breaks for employing wind power, the work opportunity tax credit, and medical Individual Retirement Accounts, all of which are set to expire.
Paying for more tax cuts will be a challenge in the current budget environment. A Senate tax aide noted that revenue-raising “offsets” that were passed by the Senate but rejected by the House are still alive and could be resurrected.
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), the other Democratic vote for the tax cut, declined to say for certain that he would support extending the just-passed cuts. But, when pressed about the “marriage penalty” and other tax cuts that would expire, he said, “Those are difficult votes to vote against, no doubt about it.”
Members of both parties have acknowledged Bush’s remarkable success in advancing two major tax cuts plus a smaller stimulus bill so far, despite a largely unanticipated and growing budget deficit, increased homeland security needs and new international commitments.
Continuing low interest rates, however, mean that the cost of new Treasury borrowing will remain low, at least for the time being. On Tuesday, Bush signed legislation that raised the new debt limit to $7.4 trillion.
“You can’t underestimate the importance of George W. Bush,” said Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah). “Yes, it’s the power of the presidency. It’s also the boldness and grandness of his ideas.”
We should first direct our energy in other directions such as other tax cuts, reductions in regulations, cutting spending, obeying the Constitution (especially the 10th Amendment).
I could see a line such as "There has not been any serious effort to reinvent government in a generation."
and TORT REFORM!
Didn't Algore already do that?
Hence the face-slap: "No serious effort."
The reason to do it now is to force Kerry, Lieberman and Edwards to vote on it before the Democrat primary season starts. That pretty much forces them to vote against it, because if they vote yes, they'll lose any chance at the nomination. But if they vote no in order to win the primaries, then they'll be stuck with that position in th general election. If you wait until after the primary season, the pressure's off, and at least two of them will no longer have to worry about whether they can beat Bush in the fall.
The timing for this is just beautiful. Hold the vote in September or October, and the Dem Senators who are running for president will be caught between a rock and a hard place!
Hence the face-slap: "No serious effort."
LOL, gotcha!
But what are the NYTimes and LATimes gonna tell the unwashed? They'll probably think BUSH is sooo stupid he just didn't realize Big Al already took care of it.
The lo' Skull and Bones MBA has even more tricks up his sleeve.
yitbos
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