Tax package passes, but concerns rise about spending bill [View all]

[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

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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?