Schumer: Large Appetite To Fight Even If All Bush Tax Cuts Expire

[Joanne98]

At a press conference this morning after Senate Republicans blocked a bid to let Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said a large number of Democrats are prepared to continue this fight into next year, even if it means all the Bush tax cuts sunset as scheduled.

In response to a question from TPM, Schumer acknowledged, "there are lots of people in our caucus who do have that appetite. There are some who don't."

As he said that, several members joining him on stage -- Mark Begich (D-AK), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Al Franken (D-MN), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) -- nodded in agreement.

Schumer declined to speculate whether Democrats would ultimately take that path. And just minutes earlier, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the Senate floor that he hopes to have the tax cut issue resolved by Friday, December 17 when, he hopes, the Senate adjourns until next year. But Schumer's willingness to float the possibility suggests a great deal of unease in the party about the idea of compromising with the Republicans on conservative terms, and extending all the Bush tax cuts temporarily.

If Democrats were to follow through with that strategy, it would turn the tax cut debate on its head. In a ferocious spin battle, Republicans would accuse Democrats of allowing the largest tax increase in U.S. history, while Democrats would blame the hikes on the GOP for holding the extensions hostage until the wealthiest Americans are given additional tax relief.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/schumer-large-appetite-to-let-all-bush-tax-cuts-expire.php?ref=fpi

[ibegurpard]

1. I support this!

tax cuts for lower and middle income earners only or tax cuts for no one.

[midnight]

5. Sounds like a cleaver way for the Republicans to take away

from the working people the money that would keep this ecomomy breathing... In other words another win for the Republicans...

[ibegurpard]

7. or we could actually stick to our guns and make the fucking case for once???

[qazplm]

18. lol

you tell me to open my eyes, and yet you somehow believe that it's as simple as "making the case" as if the Dems haven't been making all of the relevant arguments for the last 3 months.

The case is made, but the people will only see their taxes raised, and it will cease to matter that the rich might get a little bit more.

[qazplm]

8. do you think the incoming senate

will pass DREAM? DADT repeal? Other legislation that might get passed in the lame duck session?

Because I don't and quite frankly I don't find tax cuts for the rich blockage important enough balanced against those things.

[ibegurpard]

9. no and yes I'm prepared to sacrifice these things to stop the appeasements.

[qazplm]

14. that's pretty short-sighted

and I guess you are also prepared to have Republicans in control of both branches in 2012 as well.

All so we can say that we didn't appease.

Yeah, sorry don't understand that. Fighting sounds nice but the voting electorate is not going to somehow go, oh look they are fighting, sure my taxes went up, and yes as say a Hispanic once again we don't get something like DREAM passed, and maybe other things don't happen, but hey I think the rich having a slightly higher tax rate is worth ALL of that.

[lyonn]

19. Of course the repubs won't approve the above mentioned, but,

Think about how much the tax cut to the rich will cost all of us down the road. what's the figure, $700 billion? Plus interest.......

Besides, it's the repubs in the Senate that holds up the Dem's legislation by demanding 60 votes to pass anything.

[qazplm]

22. how much will not passing

DADT repeal cost us morally?

Or some of the other stuff? We've already paid a price as the unemployment 99ers had their UI cutoff.

At some point, you cut your losses. I was fine with having the vote but at this point, this is the definition of a futile fight, where we not only lose, but we will not get the credit for the fight.

[lyonn]

24. Morals be damned at this point, people need to survive

My finances are fine, but, there are people I know that are worried about their jobs, house, food, you know, the basics. People have worked all their lives to accomplish, achieve and save for their future, trusting their govt. wouldn't financially rape them, only to see it washed away in an 8 year span of time (referring to the Bush W era).

[qazplm]

27. while I think the tax cuts for the rich

are both morally and fiscally repugnant, they are not the key to survival or not survival.

So I guess we disagree there.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Schumer is right

Politically and policy-wise. No question about it.

[Andy823]

3. NO compromise!

As the president said, read it on MSNBC, the middle class is being "HELD HOSTAGE"! We don't make deals with terrorists and that's what the republican party is right now, a bunch of terrorists holding the country hostage so they can get what they want, not what the people want! I agree with those who say "let them all expire"! They can fight this fight next year and put a bill for ONLY middle class tax cuts on the floor, and let the republicans vote NO every time it comes up! It can be made retroactive before people have to pay their taxes for 2011!

This should be a no brainer for all the democrats in congress, and the president! If they cave in now they will be do it for the next two years! It will give the republicans the power to keep on making such outrageous demands knowing full well the democrats will buckle and give them what the want! It has to stop and it has to stop NOW! Don't negotiate with these TERRORISTS! What they want to do will only help to bring this country down!

[patrice]

31. +1 million bzillion!!! We MUST stop going for the short-term goals ONLY. We MUST

unite on the ISSUES instead of turning one issue group against another.

That's what I'm saying to anyone and everyone I work with.

[patrice]

4. I support this! THEIR carrot!!! = Their GAME!!! The economy is a black hole. If tax cuts helped, why

is the economy a black hole? Because it is too dependent upon all kinds of other deficit building tax cuts and subsidies that just enable gambling on Wall Street!!!!

Put the money back into revenues. Use it to shore up investments in SHARED RESOURCES!!!

HOLD OUT FOR A BETTER DEAL LATER!

I know that's going to require that we stick together, commitment to message, and follow through, all of which are huge IFs in this party, so it's a gamble, but it's better than having the "football pulled away" yet once again.

[TwilightGardener]

6. FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

I want a good old fashioned school yard brawl.

[qazplm]

11. so you must believe then

that:

a. the people won't care about an end to their tax cuts
b. the people, if they do care, will blame the Republicans and not the Democrats
c. that the result in 2012 won't be losing the WH and the Senate
d. that the Republicans won't simply stick to blocking everything (except for continuing resolutions to keep the government running thus avoiding the Gingrich mistake) which means no DADT repeal, no Dream, a host of other things we'd kinda like passed.

[ibegurpard]

13. we aren't going to get anything "we'd kinda like passed" from these fuckers!

when are you going to open your eyes?

[qazplm]

16. DADT repeal

is about to be passed, DREAM is possibly going to be passed, and I find your uber-cynicism masquerading as wisdom worn and with all due respect ignorant of what has passed in the last two years.

[ibegurpard]

21. the last two years?

healthcare "reform" that cemented the place of insurance corporations as the purveyors of our healthcare.
Active INTERFERENCE in attempts to prosecute wrongdoings from the previous administration.
Active PROMOTION of education policy to turn over public education to private corporations.
Active OPPOSITION to DADT repeal (and I'm gay and will gladly sacrifice that one right now to stop this cycle)
want more?

[qazplm]

23. yes the last two years

but the fact that you can't think of any positive legislation says more about you than me.

Got it, you think they are all the same, everyone sucks, message received.

[TwilightGardener]

17. There is that risk. I doubt Republicans would ever be held accountable

for their actions. But what pushed me over the edge was the snickering BushCo guys who admitted they'd "laid a trap" with the tax cuts and that it felt good to watch this administration try to deal with it. That sent my blood boiling--made me more willing to sacrifice the tax money than previously.

[qazplm]

20. if it were just the tax money I'd say go for it

but it isn't and the optics are that the trap was well-laid and we can either continue to keep digging or we can concede well played make the best of a bad situation and try and return to this when perhaps the optics or the numbers are slightly better.

We held the votes, it's all on record, we can now tell the voters where everyone stands and educate them, and we can try again later to push common sense.

[patrice]

30. .

a. "won't care" = oversimplified; some won't, others KNOW what debt is and they know that Republicans have been screaming about it forever. Taking a step forward on deficit reduction gives us a chance to make common cause with anti-deficit grassroots and maybe even be in the driver's seat when it comes to appropriate Medicare reform, which many Tea Partyers clearly use and CARE about.
b. "the people . . . will . . ." again an absolute, appears to be an oversimplified passive victim's mentality, what people will do can be affected by what we do, perhaps not in precisely the way that we wish, but never trying to do anything about that, because, "the people will . . .", sure as hell means that more of it will be against than would be for if we do the right stuff about that now. It's called "self-fulfilling prophecy".
c. both of those are possibilities anyway, some of us think MORE so even if we do knuckle under on the Bush Tax Cuts and, quite possibly, BECAUSE we do, fail to demonstrate effective action on deficit reduction.
d. they're probably going to block anything and everything anyway, so we need to take the high road and deficit reduction is an excellent step in that direction and it has the possibility of fracturing them from their deficit hawks, then we can blame the shit out of them for perpetuating a VERY unpopular policy DADT and failing to take one effective step toward immigration reform and live up to the promise of America in The Dream Act.

[lyonn]

10. I support

Put me in the under $250,000. category. Screw the rich, I would rather pay a bit more taxes to be sure the super rich don't get their big tax break. And, we need to extend the unemployment benefits for those losing them any time soon. Sheesh. The repubs show they know how to send our country into debt yet deny and counterclaim.....BS

[gateley]

12. Do you interpret this as Franken, Begich, et al, being in agreement about letting

all the tax cuts expire? I'd be for it, too, but that makes me wonder what would happen when the Republicans take over. I wonder if they could whip the populace into such a frenzy that they would feel pressured to vote for whatever they put forth. :shrug: I hate those motherfuckers.

[patrice]

26. Senator Harkin supports. I like it because it puts US in the driver's seat on THEIR issue, Deficit.

Yes, I know some of the stuff about the deficit is overblown, but we CAN'T make that case without showing that we ARE willing to deal with those aspects of it which are not overblown - AND - if we don't do that it's going to come out of Medicare instead, which is going to be reformed ANYWAY, but the question will be under whose knife. If the Republicans end up in the deficit power position on this, their political base will support taking the reform out of the quality of care and preserving the fat CEO salaries. If the Democrats at least get a choke collar on the Republicans for Medicare reform, we'll be able to fight for quality of care in Medicare.

If the Republicans end up in the driver's seat by turning this money back into a CORRUPT economy, it will not produce any economic reform there and then all they have to do is WAIT for Medicare reform to come to them and then that'll all come out of quality of care in preparation to offer those fat administrative salaries to SaintCo faith-based initiatives.

[patrice]

28. Plus, it could also kill Medicare as a door into a viable Public Option.

[snot]

15. YAY.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

25. This repeated meme by the Corporate Media based on the Republican LIE

that the "largest tax increase in history" will occur if we don't extend the Bush tax cuts is just that. A FUCKING LIE!!

If these tax cuts expire, we go back to the tax levels under Bill Clinton! That's all it does. The law sunsets, taking us back to Clinton era tax policies.

Why can't the Democrats articulate this message better?

My God, they are so frustrating!!

*head bashing against the wall*

[patrice]

29. .

:banghead: me too!