As we enter Day Whatever of the Great Tax Freak-Out of 2010, I feel compelled to write down a few thoughts.
First, the obligatory semi-rant about the President. While I believe that deep in his heart he doesn't want to extend the tax rates for the top bracket, his messaging is making it sound like he is even more spineless than Harry Reid, easily pushed around and bullied.
And that makes me sad.
With that out of the way, let's move on to the main purpose of this diary.
Let us not forget that while the President may be the most visible member of the government, there is ANOTHER branch of government involved in this debate as well.
And they are the ones that will have to WRITE and VOTE on a tax bill.
For all the talk of "The President want this", or "The President endorses that", or "The President is, or is not, caving", he only has TWO options legislatively in this:
- Sign a bill
- Veto a bill.
That's it.
On Monday, he and the leaders of Congress will meet to discuss this issue and set a framework for a bill. We all know what Republicans want, even though they have made noises suggesting possible options that don't involve permanent extensions for all brackets.
We also know that for this vote, Nancy Pelosi will remain Speaker of the House with 255 Democratic votes, and Harry Reid will have 58 Democratic votes.
YES, we must pressure the President. He can provide "backup" for Pelosi and Reid during this meeting. He has the use of the bully pulpit with which to verbally smack down Republicans, as he did when he went into their lair.
But everything depends on what kind of bill the Speaker and Leader bring to the floor.
And I say:
Let them bring a good bill to the floor and let it die. Let Republicans and Blue Dogs vote against it.
And then do NOT allow another bill to be brought.
Republicans will spin this as "Democrats raising taxes" or more like "Obama is raising taxes", and you know they will non stop, and that's the meme that will be picked up by the media, but all our pundits have to do is simply say:
"We had a vote on a tax cut, they voted against it".
In the Senate, let them put their secret holds and procedural filibusters all over the bill. And it will be vote or no vote.
But they won't do it unless they hear from YOU. Whatever the President says or doesn't say, Reid and Pelosi will be the ones that bring the legislation to the floor. They need to know that the American people do NOT want an extension, or at least a permanent extension of the billionaire bailout. We need to let them know that the American people want the bills to be DECOUPLED.
Contact Speaker Pelosi here.
Contact Leader Reid here.