HRC, Obama, Dodd and Biden all absent on the vote to roll back

[WCGreen]

the ATM...

I know it really wouldn't have made that much difference since the Dems don't have enough votes to beat the cloture rules that Republicans are sure to put in place...

But still, it looks real bad...



"President Bush and lawmakers of both parties all proclaim that middle-class taxpayers should be spared a surprise bill. But their inability to agree on exactly how to limit that tax is threatening to throw filing season into chaos and cost millions of Americans more in income taxes while fueling a political blame game over just who is responsible.

The dispute goes to the heart of a Democratic pledge to pay for any tax cuts or offset new spending rather than add to the federal deficit. In a preview of tax showdowns to come, the fight pits the Democratic stance against a Republican refusal to raise taxes on one group as a way of cutting them for another or to offset the $50 billion cost of limiting the reach of the alternative minimum tax, since, the Republicans argue, it was never meant to collect so much revenue in the first place.

“The effort to ‘pay for’ the A.M.T. is highly offensive to members of my side of the aisle,” Senator McConnell said on Wednesday.

Democrats say the maneuvering by Mr. McConnell and his allies leaves them wondering if Republicans truly want speedy enactment of relief from the tax. In the Democratic view, the Republican position that it should simply be set aside without a corresponding replacement of revenue is irresponsible.

“Not only do I think that it is an intellectually bankrupt policy, I think it is an immoral policy,” said the House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/washington/05cnd-tax.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1196968001-hg3BY47zZJtl9LZzIA6oSA

This is all about the dems being responsible and the GOP wanting to continue to borrow and spend this country into bankruptcy...