Free Republic

THERE is a God! It passed! The Bush tax cuts have been extended two years for the upper bracketeers, of which I am a proud member, thank you very much. I’m the last person in the world I’d want to be beside, but I am beside myself! This is a life changer, I tell you. A life changer! To begin with, I was planning a trip to Cabo with my kids for Christmas vacation. We were going to fly coach, but now with the money I’m saving in taxes, I’m going to splurge and bump myself up to first class....

South Dakota Sen. John Thune took a veiled swipe at Mitt Romney on the Senate floor Tuesday, saying it’s “easy” and “possibly even politically expedient to stand on the sidelines and criticize” the tax cut proposal backed by President Obama and GOP congressional leaders. “Inaction is not an option, and advocating against this proposal is no different than advocating for higher taxes,” Thune said in a Tuesday afternoon speech. Thune voted to advance the proposal in the Senate on Monday. Just a handful of Republicans, including possible 2012 candidate Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), opposed it. Thune did not mention Romney by...

During a White House summit in February, Republican Sen. John McCain ripped President Barack Obama for “unsavory” closed-door deal-making on health care legislation, saying that the “American people care about what we did and how we did it.” But now that Republicans and the White House are pushing through an $850 billion tax deal — a measure drafted behind closed doors — McCain and his GOP colleagues say there’s nothing wrong with the way the bill came together. “I didn’t see anything where they sat down with an individual senator and said, ‘Hey, what do you need to support this?’” McCain told...

A top House Democrat said Monday there's room to revise the contentious tax-cut package hammered out between the White House and Senate Republicans. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) predicted the House would ultimately pass a tax-cut bill this month, but not before Democratic critics have had a chance to amend certain language — particularly a 35 percent estate tax provision that exempts the first $5 million of estates. "There certainly seems to me to be some room for a change which may or may not be perceived by some to be significant," Hoyer told reporters at the National Press Club....

The assistant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that President Obama's tax compromise with Republicans will come to the House floor, despite House Democrats vowing to block the deal in a heated caucus meeting last week. But Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on "Fox News Sunday" that, even though the White House has said that the deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts isn't open to negotiation, House Democrats are still going to make an effort to lop out at least one controversial provision: the estate tax. "This bill will come to the floor of the House in...

House Democrats have rejected the Senate’s negotiated tax compromise. In a rowdy meeting in which one Democratic Congressman said loudly “F— the President,” the House Democrats turned Nancy Reagan and just said no. Barney Frank still thinks it would pass, most likely with House Republicans. But the deal must now die. It must now be opposed by Republicans. Released now in print, the legislation is loaded up with budget busting pork of ridiculously absurd levels. The attachments to the compromise represent everything wrong with Washington. Many of them mirror the same porkulus spending in TARP. The GOP must now say...

The Senate released its bill Thursday to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years, but the bill also renews a host of more minor tax provisions aimed at winning over recalcitrant Democrats in the House and Senate. The bill, which faces its first key test vote Monday in the Senate, mirrors the deal that President Barack Obama struck earlier this week with Republicans. It extends the tax cuts for all Americans regardless of income, renews jobless benefits for one year and reinstates the estate tax at a level pushed by Republicans. But in the face of loud resistance from...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Rates on fixed mortgages rose for the fourth straight week this week. The surge could slow refinancings and further hamper the housing market. Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rates on 15- and 30-year fixed loans increased sharply from last week. Mortgage rates tend to track the yields on 10-year Treasury bonds. Those yields have been rising as investors anticipate Congress will extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years and long-term unemployment benefits for 13 months. The 30-year rate rose to 4.61 percent from 4.46 percent last week. That is well above the 4.17...