ABC
Speaker-designate John Boehner called a vote planned later this afternoon on a permanent extension of a middle class tax cuts package "chicken crap" and criticized Democrats for playing political games nearly two years from the next election.
"[I am] trying to catch my breath so I don’t refer to this maneuver going on today as a chicken crap, all right?" Boehner said. "But this is nonsense. The election was one month ago. We’re 23 months from the next election and the political games have already started trying to set up the next election."
Mitch McConnell has already promised to block all legislation unless or until the Republicans get their way on tax cuts for the rich. The Democrats wouldn't dare call their bluff, so the House move isn't going to result in actual legislation. It's just nice that someone stood up to the bullies, if only they had done it when it could actually accomplish something.
From sceptical observer in the comments:
TPM
Brace yourself for some procedural jargon: Dems once believed they were faced with two mixed options for holding this vote. The first was to hold an up-or-down vote under the normal rules. But that would give Republicans the opportunity to introduce what's known as a motion to recommit -- a procedural right of the minority that would have allowed them to tack an extension of tax cuts for high-income earners on to the legislation.
The second option -- suspending the rules -- would have foreclosed on that right, but would have required a two-thirds majority of the House for passage: 290 votes, an impossible hurdle.
But Democrats figured out a way to avoid this. They're attaching their tax cut plan as an amendment to a separate bill [the Airport and Airway Extension Act, to wit]. That legislation already passed the House, and has just been returned from the Senate. The rules say it can't be recommitted. So the GOP's hands are tied.