House Dems Want to Change Tax Cut Deal Before Vote

AP

Democratic leaders in the House continue to grumble over President Obama's package deal with Republicans that would extend the Bush tax cuts, but they are signaling they'll nevertheless put the deal up for a vote -- after making some changes.

The Senate will take a key test vote on the tax cut deal this afternoon, and they'll need at least 60 votes in favor of the deal to overcome filibusters from Republican Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.). (The latter staged a symbolic filibuster for more than eight hours on the Senate floor Friday.)

The measure, which is estimated to cost nearly $900 billion and is not paid for, is expected to get through the Senate despite that opposition. (You can watch Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado explain on "Washington Unplugged" why he's voting in favor of the plan on CBSNews.com at 12:30 p.m. ET.) If and when that happens, the House is expected to take up the bill.

"I think we're going to have a vote on the Senate bill with possible changes," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said this morning in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, CBS News Senior Political Producer Jill Jackson reports.

Those changes could happen in the House Ways and Means Committee, where the bill could end up after the Senate passes it, Hoyer said. Given the reaction to the proposal, the committee would most likely raise the proposed estate tax rate and lower the threshold at which it kicks in.

President Obama's proposed deal would set the tax at 35 percent on estate transactions of more than $5 million for the next two years. An additional $5 million for the spouse could also pass untaxed. The estate tax was repealed for 2010, but under current law, it is scheduled to return next year with a top rate of 55 percent on estate transactions of more than $1 million or $2 million for couples.

The president's plan would also temporarily extend all of the Bush tax cuts -- including those for the wealthiest Americans -- extend unemployment insurance for 13 months and make a temporary cut to the payroll tax, among other things.

While many House Democrats have expressed outrage at the prospect of extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the caucus may be more incensed by the estate tax. Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.) told the Hotsheet last week it was the most "offensive" part of the deal.

Hoyer today blasted Republicans for "going to the mat for a high estate tax exemption that would exclusively benefit just 39,000 of America's wealthiest families."

Explaining Democratic opposition to the plan, Hoyer said, "I simply do not believe that the deep debt that comes from Republican upper-income and estate tax cuts is worth their minimal impact on job creation. Those cuts harm our long-term prosperity, with little short-term gain in return. They are founded on the fiscal fiction that the billions included for the best-off among us will have a significant positive effect on job growth."

Having said that, Hoyer said action to extend at least some of the Bush tax cuts is necessary and called compromise "inevitable."

He praised some parts of the plan, saying that "extending unemployment insurance, cutting payroll taxes, and keeping taxes low on income under $250,000 are all proven steps to grow the economy, help families in need, and create jobs."

House Democrats declared their contempt with the plan loud and clear last week, after starting a chant of "Just Say No" at a caucus meeting and taking a symbolic vote to reject it.

On "Fox News Sunday" yesterday, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the outgoing chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called the estate tax rate a "choking point." However, he said, "I am confident that when we get to January, there will be no tax increases on middle-income Americans. We're not going to hold this thing up at the end of the day."

Appearing on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod said he didn't foresee "major changes" being made by the House.

Senate to Hold Test Vote on Obama-GOP Tax Deal
Bernie Sanders Holds Old-School Filibuster Against Obama-GOP Tax Cut Deal
Bill Clinton and Obama Team up to Push Tax Deal
House Democrats: "Just Say No" to Tax Deal

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Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[noloyalisti]

70% of the people did not want to give more welfare to the millionaires and billionaires. Who do these people represent? Oh yeah, the giant corporations and the filthy rich who run them and buy the elections for maximum profits for the Top 1%.

[Empire--George--]

Why do you consider it welfare, when people are allowed to keep more of their own income ?? now our own income is "welfare" to you ??

[carolo43]

During the Bush years and with the Bush tax rates, the job increase was .028%......the lowest in history. The rich do not create jobs.....the jobs they had made them rich. These tax rates have already proven to not work and partly why we are in this recession to began with.

[Empire--George--]

carolo43, it would help if you checked the unemployment figures during Bush's presidency. 4 - 6% unemployment means jobs.......10% as we have now, means no jobs.....but conveniently, you dismiss these facts, and instead speak of a job "increase" being the lowest in history.....so if Bush was "lowest" how low is Obama ? since he is worse.

[hsr060]

1. Future lies in Education & Energy.
?
I guess the economic boom in the Clinton-Gore administration was linked to the third wave of IT industry, rather than the triangulation he pulled off.
( And he didn't sell out his core value regarding tax, and so on. )
?
The forth wave of ET industry, likewise, lies ahead, CA starts to reap the benefits. Regrettably, the reps stand in the way of it.
?
2. Guess who will have to foot the bill eventually for paying off the rich ?
?
The rest of folks.
Wait until the new Congress comes back in 2011 and start looking for ways to cut spending to pay for all this $900 billion. They won't target things that affect corporations or the rich, the entire tab will cost the middle class and the elderly. Social security, Medicare, social services, education, will all be impacted.
?
3. A one-year reduction in the payroll tax from 6.2 to 4.2 percent will give the reps chance to fight its restoration, endangering Social Security, which the conservative movement has long sought to eradicate.

?
4. Currently, American businesses are sitting on approximately $2.3 trillion in reserves, which, of course, could be used to create jobs.
?
For instance, hospitals have serious problems with understaffing, not because of the financial squeeze, but because of the cost reduction.
( And the understaffing could spark prohibitive ER visits. )
In an attempt to defend the prodigious windfall, they resort to using the term of socialism or socialists for reformers.
?
5. Let me repeat :
?
Extreme Capitalism failed entirely in 2008.
From my perspective, Communism & Extreme Capitalism have several characteristics in common :
(a). Power First, Corruption at the cost of ordinary people !
(b). They hate competition, accordingly there is no progress.
?
6. Presently, another Bush-era is threatening health care law.

[simpleconservative]

The Democrats class warfare agenda is playing thin with the American people. Folks know they have never been hired by a poor man and they have a general comprehension of the inherent risks in business. This was amplified by the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler, not to mention the financial institutions. This growing awareness along with a stubborn unemployment rate makes everyone with a few brain cells in working order question the wisdom of increasing taxes rather than cutting spending. Congress discusses billions of dollars in spending as if it were chump change but think about this fact. McDonalds corporation posted a 6.2 billion dollar profit for the entire year. Thousands of restaurants working 365 days a year to achieve this result. General Electric posted a profit of 11.4 billion dollars working 365 days a year with massive capital investments and tens of thousands of workers to achieve that result. Congress which produces nothing will spend that much money in the next two days. It is high time to redefine the truly greedy and unprincipled parties in the equation and the American people are catching on to that simple fact. Cut spending and then lets talk, otherwise this discussion and the points made by the Democrats represents wattless energy!

[realist51]

what about the class warfare on the middle class? seems that GE and Mccdonalds did this with just one person now did they. let the taxcuts expire.both these companies made profits and expanded in the ninties. and too corperate taxes are different that individual income tax. so your points are mote yes true cut spending. don't spend SS on anthing but SS. make business's pay for there own roads and rail as this is there main source of commerce mobility, not mine. I'm for the entitlment programs. i've paid into them and when my time comes i expect to get my return on them, i don't get no return on subsidies to corperations and business's so cut the corperate welfare out and then make them pay for what they use. most dems in the house would see the cuts expire for all. then reduce the size of goverment buy getting ride of the department of homeland security. dropping medicare part D and getting a refund on the unfunded spending of two wars that have had nothing to do with 9/11. seems we forgot about the hunt for bin laden.

[anatolemaher]

"Take from the people that create jobs"

Yep, four hundred billionaire families with combined worth of 1.3 trillion dollars have created millions of jobs, S'funny though, this is not borne out by statistics of the SBA and US Labor Bureau
Decrease in small businesses 81,046 in 2008; 169,137 in 2009
Jobs lost Feb 2007 - Jan 2009 2,688,000; Feb 2009 - Nov 2010 3,170,000
Budget deficit before any Bush cut tax deal 1.3 trillion dollars
National debt before any Bush cut tax deal 14 trillion dollars
Interest on the gross national debt (2008) 454 billion dollars
In July 2001 there were budget " surpluses as far as the eye can see"
converted quickly by tax cuts, unfunded wars into DEFICITS FURTHER THAN THE EYE CAN SEE and the worst depression in decades
We need to continue the policies that make the rich richer so we can have more job creation.

[MysmallMind]

According to my rough calculations I come up with $146,250,000,000 tax revenue loss comparing the proposed estate tax plan to what will come about by itself just on the estate portion using $5M X2 (husband/wife) for the 39,000 wealthiest people. Now, adding income tax revenue for those same people can't be any more of a drop in the bucket than the estate tax revenue. SO TAX THE RICH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! That's where about half a trillion dollars is hiding right now.

[ajvw]

why don't you get an education, set goals, work hard to achieve those goals, and become wealthy. maybe you'd feel a little different. i doubt it though; that plan sounds like a lot of work.

[simpleconservative]

You are aptly named, small mind. Beside the fact that your calculations are way off where on earth do you develop the notion that this money should be stolen from it's rightful owners? People pay taxes all their lives and now you are condoning thievery from the residue because they are dead or is it just because they have it? CUT THE SPENDING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! That is where the waste and misuse of several trillion dollars is going down the drain as we speak.

[love2ridend]

This makes it offical. The democrats now are the offical party of "NO"

[realist51]

finally about time isn't it? one time to vote no and the crying on the right about the party of NO. look in the senate where it's been going on for two + years and when that mess is cleaned up then come crying back about this one bill, to any argument about the deficit from the right just lost all it weight. after voting for a trillion dollar increase. go cry with Bohner he needs a shoulder too.

[nomorelibs]

I wonder if Democrats will ever say no to higher taxes. President Obama loves to spew how tax breaks for the wealthy are the holly grail for the Republican party. What a joke. We pay income tax, property tax, sales tax, death tax, corporate tax, et... But Democrats never once try to abolish taxes. They just keep adding new ones. When will it be enough? CUT SPENDING, LOWER TAXES, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

[askagain]

nomorelibs - Well stated. The article says that keeping the present tax rates leaves 900 billion unfunded. Incorrect. If we simply reduce spending by 900 billion, the problem is solved. This is what families are expected to do when they run out of money.

[thanksgreed]

and deficits only matter for other folks...

[pubsrtoast]

The Senate will take a key test vote on the tax cut deal this afternoon, and they'll need at least 60 votes in favor of the deal to overcome filibusters from Republican Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh the Irony that the far left and far right have come together (for different reasons) to kill this abomination of a compromise. We are already spending ten percent of the annual budget servicing the debt, let's start cutting spending by not making that number even bigger.

[anatolemaher]

ajvw
"why don't you get an education, set goals, work hard to achieve those goals, and become wealthy. maybe you'd feel a little different. i doubt it though; that plan sounds like a lot of work."

I gotta agree, these lazy people who keep ******** and ******** ought to take an example from Sarah BETCHA Palin, look at where she is as a result of education, and hard work. From the barracuda and moose hunter to mayor of a major metropolis where she can see our enemy Russia from her backyard, to governor of one of the richest states in the Union, to vice presidential candidate, to author of books, to the next president of these United States. All because of education and hard work. She is now in Haiti administering directly to those poor people suffering from cholera, the aftermaths of natural and other disasters. All in all, a perfect model for anyone aspiring to our American dream. And as to wealth, BETCHA has probably a bank account in eight figures and with taxes as low as will be for the next two years, will be one of the richest to assume the presidency. Can't happen anywhere else in the world, only in America.

[dinkydog1]

by strikerF2 December 13, 2010 2:18 PM EST
Flat Tax no estate tax, let them expire and no extension for Un-employment.

....................................................

Yes, lets give the rich the largest tax cut in history like you suggest with the silly flat tax and pass the difference along to the middle class whos spending actually fuels the consumer economy. Then, after the economy has collapsed, to complete our ruin, we can get rid of all those programs that stablize our economy like unemployment, social security etc. Then we can relax in the Republican utopia and feed off the scraps the rich are generous enough to throw us. Wing nut mission acomplished.

[simpleconservative]

They are not the largest tax cuts in history, this is the continuation of marginal rates that have been in place for a decade. What we are avoiding is "THE LARGEST TAX HIKE" in American history. Get the facts straight and your posts will have more credibility!

[abbe91]

simple,

read again dinkydog's post: he was addressing the suggestion of a flat tax.