“The tea party Republicans are wagging the Republican dog and saying to your leadership, ‘we don’t want to do this,’” charged Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.). – Politico
The two-month payroll tax extention deal is ridiculous and came about because Democrats couldn’t figure a way to stand on a line and force the issue, caving on the millionaire surtax (and Keystone XL), which sent yet another message that they won’t fight for anything. So what else is new? Now Speaker Boehner is the one on the line, though that could eventually turn.
If “more work needs to be done,” as Jay Carney said in his briefing, then Sen. Reid, Pres. Obama and everyone else should have worked through Christmas and right up until the deadline. Is that what it will take to push Republicans? You don’t know until you make the move. But you don’t go home until they blink. If they don’t blink then Democrats would have proved what’s going on the stroke after midnight on New Year’s Eve.
After all, it’s not like every American isn’t working right now, right up until Christmas. I sure as hell am and so is my husband.
I’m not sure what Boehner and his wacky House team think they can accomplish, because Senate Republicans voted for it and Reid says he’s not bringing anyone back. But Boehner has just created a problem, because now Reid’s on the grill, which wouldn’t have happened if the Senate leisure class hadn’t ducked out of Washington instead of doing their jobs, which applies doubly, in my opinion, to the Democrats.
Yes, Republicans have a gridlock jerk fetish, no kidding.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t keep pressing them until the clock runs out, instead of running out while the clock’s still ticking, which is exactly what Reid and McConnell have done.
The 229-193 partisan vote capped a wild few days of legislating and sends a message that Congress has chosen partisan stalemate over finding a quick solution before taxes go up and unemployment benefits go away for millions.
House Republicans, who were taken aback by the overwhelmingly bipartisan 89-10 Senate vote on the two-month extension, are trying to force the Senate to convene an old fashioned conference committee and somehow forge agreement on a full one-year extension of the payroll tax cut. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will not re-start negotiations until the House passes a two-month extension.
We need more Independent congresspeople, because then we wouldn’t have this seesaw of silliness.
But for Jay Carney to call this a “bipartisan compromise” reveals not just how broken Congress is today, but that the Senate is composed of elites who have their own self-interest in mind.
Reid and McConnell ducking out of Washington isn’t a compromise. For Democrats, it’s political malpractice. It’s about the Democrats refusing to push Republicans to the wall, even if it included giving up some of their own personal Christmastime.
Speaker Boehner is calling Reid’s bluff. But is he and his caucus willing to do what Democrats and Senate Republicans won’t?
The problem for Reid now is that the bill is now back in the Senate, with Boehner & his caucus waiting for conference.
Is Boehner now prepared to push the point through Christmas and up into New Year’s Eve? That’s evidently his play, so we will see.
But would anyone be surprised to see Reid and the Senate back in session next week? See the debt ceiling debacle.
Every single precedent Boehner has to consult tells him that Obama and the Democrats will cave. So why shouldn’t he wait and call their bluff?
We all know how this will end.
This is THE last thing Reid expected, while McConnell either got faked out or it was the miscommunication moment to end all moments.
Reid should have seen this coming. The debt ceiling was the Tea Party tell.
We shall see…
“Reid should have seen this coming.”
This bunch along with this President are with out a doubt THE most pathetic excuses for legislators this country has ever produced in my lifetime.
The 2002 – 2006 Republicans sucked pretty bad too.
Reid is especially disheartening; unlike many others in the Senate he was not born into wealth, in fact, he was dirt poor. Everything he has was earned the hard way. Even today, he lives modestly. You would think that a westerner with such a hardscrabble backround would be a little tougher and just a bit more populist.
Forget populism for the time being, how about some cunning? How about street smarts? Don’t these people have any brains? Do they ever anticipate? They are out-played every single time by the Republicans. Because they have neither nerve nor conviction.
And progressives, like abused wives, keep going back to these very Democrats over and over and over again for more of the same.
As I said before we all know exactly how this will end. They will cave.
So true, so frustrating, so pathetic….but what’s the inside story? Just like the health care debate, the people are the ones who are faked out by the politicians…who know exactly what they are doing…and for whom. Kabuki or just weak idiocy?
If the Senate set one foot back in Washington DC next week the Democrats will have lost another one. To have any credibility, the Democrats will need to let the House Republicans die on the vine. As a matter of fact, liberals should be demanding that this extension be junked. The House extension was worst but this one is bad. I don’t want to hear about Obama’s swagger when each and every piece of legislation he signs follows the left being kicked in the balls – that’s not swagger, that’s staggering away negotiations in pain.