First, the House mustered enough votes, finally, to pass the bill extending the current tax rates. It also increased entitlement spending in several areas... I include the unemployment benefits as an entitlement program, because if you can draw unemployment benefits for almost THREE YEARS, that's what it has grown into. However you cut it, this stimulus-by-another-name bill passed the House and goes to PresBo for his signature.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40697296/ns/politics-capitol_hill/?gt1=43001
Acting with uncommon speed, Congress sent President Barack Obama sweeping, bipartisan legislation late Thursday night to avoid a Jan. 1 spike in income taxes for millions and renew jobless benefits for victims of the worst recession in 80 years.
The measure also will cut Social Security taxes for nearly every wage-earner and pump billions of dollars into the still-sluggish economy.
The 277-148 vote came the day after the Senate cleared the bill, 81-19.
The legislation was the result of a reach across party lines by President Barack Obama and top Republicans in Congress — stubborn adversaries during two years of political combat that ended when the GOP emerged the undisputed winner in midterm elections on Nov. 2.
The fact that this is the kind of legislation produced by bipartisan action goes a long way towards explaining why I'm not incredibly thrilled by the concept of bipartisanship. MORE "stimulus" spending? How well has that worked so far? And though reducing taxes will be good for the economy, reducing social security withholding taxes simply means the massive entitlement program will be in worse trouble, and sooner rather than later. Cutting money going to a program that is on a definite and KNOWN path to bankruptcy isn't a good idea.
The second thing that happened yesterday is that GOP Senators managed to kill, at least temporarily, the mammoth "omnibus spending bill" into which the lame-duck Democrats had packed an entire year's worth of wish-list spending.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40710315/ns/politics-capitol_hill/?gt1=43001
Democrats controlling the Senate abandoned on Thursday a huge catchall spending measure combining nearly $1.3 trillion worth of unfinished budget work, including another $158 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 1,924-page bill collapsed of its own weight after an outcry from conservatives who complained it was stuffed with more than $8 billion in homestate pet projects known as earmarks.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave up on the bill after several Republicans who had been thinking of voting for it pulled back their support.
Make no mistake, this is a good thing. Trying to rush through massive legislation without adequate time for meaningful review of the details has become the modus operandi of this particular branch of Congressional criminals... I mean Congressmen. But that is no way to govern.
Think about it. Democrats avoided bringing a single budget bill up before the election, but want to cram through, in a few weeks, what normally takes an entire year to get right.
The House and Senate typically spend months on the 12 annual spending bills, but Democrats didn't bring even a single one to the Senate floor this year, an unprecedented collapse of an appropriations process.
The alternative to this massive bill containing who-knows-what is to pass a one-page "continuing resolution" that continues funding the Federal government at its current rate. Then Congress can come back in January and take the time to do it right. What should have been done by the Democrats LAST YEAR will have to be done next year... an astounding failure which they should not be able to get away with.
At least some of the GOP SEEM to get it, though I'm still not confident it isn't just an act.
GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky threw his weight against the bill in recent days, saying it was "unbelievable" that Democrats would try to muscle through in the days before Christmas legislation that usually takes months to debate.
"Just a few weeks after the voters told us they don't want us rushing major pieces of complicated, costly, far-reaching legislation through Congress, we get this," McConnell said. "This is no way to legislate."
You see, the WORDS are there, and they DID kill this omnibus spending bill, so it looks like they might be serious. On the other hand, the Senate DID overwhelmingly approve the massive amounts of stimulus and entitlement spending in the bill to extend the current tax rates.
So, is the GOP really serious? Their current record shows some hope, but not much. Most likely, they're picking the high-profile issues to make a point, and it will be business-as-usual on everything else.
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