The Rule for President Obama's tax cut compromise has been pulled from the House floor temporarily. This is a temporary setback and senior leadership aides say there will likely be a vote on final passage tonight. It's unclear, however, if the bill will be amended.
If the bill changes, it would have to be kicked back up to the Senate for final approval before it can be signed into law by the president -- and the Senate has signaled it would not welcome any changes.
The reason for this setback? Sources tell NBC News that the Democratic Leadership did not have the votes to pass the Rule, i.e., approve the rules for debating the tax compromise.
Why were the votes not there?
1. The Rule could have passed with GOP support, however, the minority party pretty much always votes against the Rule, because it's created solely by the leadership of the majority party. It's considered heresy by minority leadership to vote for the Rule if you're in the minority party.
1. The Rule could have passed with GOP support, however, the minority party pretty much always votes against the Rule, because it's created solely by the leadership of the majority party. It's considered heresy by minority leadership to vote for the Rule if you're in the minority party.
2. The main reason why the bill is delayed is that House liberal Democrats wanted more opportunities to publicly display their anger with the compromise.
As the Rule is currently constructed, there would be a vote on one amendment, the estate-tax language. Liberals were not being offered a chance to vote against other things they did not like in the bill.
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5 comments:
Can somebody explain to me how this bill even starts in the Senate? Tax bills, appropriation bills or those intended to raise revenue are, by our constitution, to originate in the House.
Maybe there is a president here but I'm not aware of it.
It started in the house, went to the Senate where they made changes and now it's back to the house.
I hate this "for the wealthy tax break" bill.
You're right - behind on my reading and did not realize that this was the orignial HR4853 Bill. Too bad the ammendments confuse the issue so much. Thanks
Don't let the wealthy worry you, it's for everyone. If you want to hate this bill so so because,
"The legislation is estimated to cost $858 billion and will be financed entirely be adding to the deficit"...
and that is the estimate today. I wonder what it will be when they're done.
This bill is the reason the lame-duck sessions were shortened....an outgoing majority and/or just-fired elected representatives have no downside for their vote. It's a shame that they can live with themselves.
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