Details are scant, but TPM reports Harry Reid is going to schedule a vote on Obama's middle-class tax cuts to take place in the next three weeks:
Brian Beutler reports in that Harry Reid expects to hold a Senate vote on extending the Bush tax cuts within the next three weeks. More soon ...
And on a similar note, Greg Sargent reports DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen also supports having a vote:
The chairman of Dem efforts to hold the House says a highly-charged vote on whether to extend the middle class tax cuts would provide a lift to Dem candidates in the midterm elections, drawing a sharp contrast between Dems as defenders of the middle class and Republicans as defenders of the rich.
DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen cautioned in an interview with me that no decisions had been made. But his assessment could provide fodder to those pushing a vote as the best way to give Dems a burst of populist energy heading into the fall. Some moderates are balking at this fight, and Dem leaders are engaged in intense debate about how to proceed.
"A vote on this issue would help crystallize the choices before the voters," Van Hollen told me. "It would demonstrate clearly that Republicans want to hold tax relief for 98 percent of the American people hostage in order to get tax breaks for the top 2 percent."
"Without talking specifically about whether we will or won't have a vote, this is an issue where a very clear contrast can be drawn," Van Hollen said.
Both of these are good pieces of news -- it makes all the sense in the world to move forward with a vote on Obama's tax cuts for the middle-class.
In fact, I'd also argue Republicans should also be given the opportunity to have a separate vote and debate on Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. That way, they can't claim Democrats are holding anything hostage, and Republicans can't claim that Democrats aren't giving them a chance to make the case for cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
Assuming that Democrats move forward with these votes, I don't think that Republicans will be willing to hold the tax cuts hostage if the vote is held before November's election. Why? Because the political risk of doing so is too great. It's much more likely that they'd hold the tax cuts hostage if the vote is scheduled after the election. Given that the goal here isn't to trick Republicans into holding the tax cuts hostage (it's to pass Obama's tax cut and block Bush's tax cut), Democrats ought to be forcing the issue now.
Politically, it's a win/win for Democrats. Either Republicans make fools of themselves by holding Obama's middle-class tax cuts hostage, or Democrats win an important legislative victory. The only way Democrats can lose on this issue is by sitting on their hands and doing nothing. It's good to see that Van Hollen doesn't think complacency is the best way forward (edit: and neither does Reid).
Update: Van Hollen is on the right track, but I spoke too soon about Reid. TPM reports that while he's calling for a vote, the vote may not be on Obama's middle class tax cut proposal.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters today that he plans to move on a tax cut package before Congress adjourns next month ahead of the November elections...but he still doesn't know what that package will call for.
Reid expects a vote on the package "before we leave," leaving Democrats little time to determine whether they'll proceed with President Obama's plan to extend all of the Bush tax cuts, except for those that benefit the wealthiest Americans.
Reid said today that he supports the President's plan, but he's still unsure whether he'll use Obama's template.
The fact that they don't know how to proceed is disturbing, to put it mildly. This isn't rocket science: Reid should schedule two separate debates on two separate pieces of legislation, the first on Obama's tax cuts for the middle-class, and the second for Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. As long as Republicans allow a vote on the first, Democrats should allow a vote on the second. That way nothing gets held hostage. Keep it simple, stupid.