Tax package passes, but concerns rise about spending bill

[ProgressiveEconomist]

Source: Politico

By JAKE SHERMAN, JOHN BRESNAHAN and LAUREN FRENCH Updated 12/17/15 02:43 PM EST

The House overwhelmingly approved a $680-billion package of tax cuts, as both Republicans and Democrats hustled to lock down the votes needed to clear a yearlong, $1.1 trillion spending bill scheduled for a vote Friday. The tax package passed 318-109, with 241 Republicans — all but three who were present to cast ballots — voting yes. But the dynamics on the spending bill are far different.

Liberals are angry that the bill includes language to lift the longstanding ban to export U.S. oil, and is silent on the debt crisis in Puerto Rico and other Democratic priorities. House Democrats used a Thursday afternoon vote series to whip the measure, aware that they need to provide somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 votes to send the bill to the Senate. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who announced her intention to support the bill Thursday morning in a closed party meeting, said she wasn't confident she had the votes locked up to pass the bill.

"No, we’re talking it through," Pelosi told reporters. "There is concerned about how this all came together…. I feel that what we did in the bill…10 times offsets that damage we did." Pelosi is trying to convince members of her party that, while the bill isn't perfect, it is better than a full-year continuing resolution, which would lower spending levels drastically….

Pelosi and her leadership team is telling the rank and file that if they don't provide 118 votes, they will end up with permanent business tax breaks, and a yearlong continuing resolution at a lower spending level — a far worse outcome for Democrats....


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/house-spending-tax-votes-216896

---

Now the timing of Republican action on these secret megabills the night of the last debate seems a bit suspicious. Paul Ryan published the tax bill before the midnight deadline, permitting a vote on it today. But he held the spending bill until after 130 am, resulting in a vote on spending tomorrow.

In the OP, Nancy Pelosi points out that this raises the possibility of a "no" on spending, which would lead to a continuing resolution without many important Democratic Part priorities in the spending bill. Meanwhile, the corporate lobbyist Chrismas tree the Rs wanted already has passed. Has Ryan bamboozled Pelosi? I' m glad lifting the oil export ban, which the Rs really want, was put into the spending bill rather than the tax bill.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?

[yeoman6987]

1. Just pass something

The president should have to sign at least one bill in office. These continuing resolutions are a mess that we have had for 7 years. The democratic congressmen for the most part like the bill since they passed it. Use other methods to get the other goodies.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

8. Ironically, the so-called

"Freedom Caucus" seems to have made just passing something more feasible. Under the "Hastert Rule", Republicans would not bring any bill up for a vote unless it had 218 Republican votes. But when the "Freedom Caucus" denied Boehner or Ryan more than 40 of those votes, only two options remained for must-pass legislation: shut down the government, or gain a measure of support from Democrats.

It's noteworthy that the tax bill got more than 218 Republican votes, but the spending bill will have to rest on getting many votes from Democrats as well as Republicans.

[yallerdawg]

2. It should be...

"concerns rise about Christmas break"!

The more they all hate it, the better it is!

[ProgressiveEconomist]

9. Spending bill has passed,

according to The Hill:

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/263700-house-approves-11t-funding-bill-striking-at-obamacare

Yeses are still accumulating, but the critical 218 mark already has been surpassed by at least two votes.

You were right--pressure to go home for the holidays apparently worked in favor of the spending bill.

[yallerdawg]

10. Marco Rubio true to form didn't show up.

Sanders voted "no" on everything, Warren voted "yes"!

Asked about yesterday's 'concern' over getting enough Democratic votes to pass in the House, Nancy Pelosi basically winked at the camera and said "We didn't want the Republicans to know how pleased we really are with this budget bill."

President Obama will sign it!

[Matthew28]

3. Of course they're concern

Any thing that doesn't abolish most of government and turn us back to the 19th century is unacceptable with the tea party. It is really insane.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

5. They vote NO, but often hope YES,

to reward their corporate sponsors. A good example is senior Senate appropriations committee member Richard Shelby (R-AL). He angered even John McCain by forcing into the spending bill a provision worth hundreds of millions of dollars to an Alabama company that wants to import space rockets from Russia. But after loading up the spending bill with this and many other corrupt quid pro quos, he announced he's going to vote against it. His excuse is that it doesn't bar Syrian refugee resettlement! See http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/richard-shelby-oppose-sepnding-bill-216904

[red dog 1]

7. Thanks for that link

Richard Shelby is a jackass!

[fasttense]

4. A $680-billion package of tax cuts???????????????????????????????

Tax cuts when we are still in a bad economy, have a large federal debt and our middle class is disappearing???? You know who is getting those cuts or should I say tax giveaways? The uber rich and their corporations are getting the majority of those giveaways .

Remember when the Democratic lame duck congress let the uber rich keep their bush era tax giveaways for another 2 years then Obama signed it? These giveaways are much worse.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

6. The lopsided YES vote for the tax bill does seem

to show that Pelosi could have pressed harder for indexation of the child tax credit and other Democratic priorities. On the plus side, the child tax credit has been made permanent, along with expansion of the earned income tax credit and a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition. All three of these benefits for the poor and middle class started out as temporary provisions of President Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus package. In addition, deductions for state and local sales taxes were made permanent, foiling Republican plans for sub-rosa tax increases primarily for blue states.

Corporate tax giveaways could have been much worse. If I remember the figures correctly, the Rs wanted 50 such tax breaks made permanent, but only got 10, along with temporary extensions of some others.

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/12/16/heres-what-made-it-into-congresss-big-tax-and-spending-bills/ and http://democrats.appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/Summary%20of%20FY16%20Omnibus_0.pdf