Despite trotting out Joe Biden a couple of times over the past few days to make it seem like maybe they had some fight in their bones, the White House is making sure everybody knows that they are going to cave on tax cuts:
WASHINGTON — White House officials and Congressional Republicans said Sunday they were closing in on a deal to temporarily continue the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, while bitterly frustrated Democratic Congressional leaders began exploring whether they would have the votes for such a package.
Hold on...Democrats are going to have to provide the votes for this? Are you kidding me? If we're talking about extending Bush tax policy, shouldn't the votes should come from Republicans? After all, a majority of both chambers of Congress has voted in favor a responsible tax cut plan -- without a single Republican vote. The only reason a tax cut plan isn't headed to President Obama's desk is the GOP filibuster. And now Democrats are supposed to find votes to support the GOP tax policy? Has the White House gone nuts? Apparently so:
But some Senate Democrats were growing increasingly angry at the administration and wary of a deal. In a sign of the deepening divisions, White House officials had voiced opposition to raising the threshold for the tax breaks to $1 million, saying it would do little to reduce the deficit.
So saving $2 billion on a year thanks to federal pay freeze is a really big deal, but saving $20 billion by raising the tax break threshold isn't worth considering? What a joke.
Just 26% of Americans support the GOP plan to give $700 billion in tax cuts on income over $250,000, yet that's exactly what the administration is about to ask Democrats to vote in favor of.
Democrats should say no. If the Obama administration wants to cut a deal with Republicans to continue Bush tax policy, then let them find the votes for the deal on the Republican side of the aisle. Democrats shouldn't enable them -- no deal unless it's a good deal. And adding $700 billion to the national debt to pay for tax cuts on the wealthiest 2% isn't just a bad deal, it's a terrible deal.