Boehner Plans Short-Term Spending Bills, Defers Obamacare Fight

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner warned rank-and-file Republicans in a conference call on Thursday against using the threat of a government shutdown to stop the implementation of Obamacare, according to people on the call.

Boehner told those on the call that they would move forward forward next month with an unencumbered short-term spending bill and defer the health-care fight until November or December during negotiations to raise the government's borrowing limit.

Some GOP leaders fear that, because Mr. Obama won't sign any measure hampering the health law, known as the Affordable Care Act, a so-called defunding fight could lead to a government shutdown.

One GOP lawmaker who participated in the conference call said he was "stunned" by Mr. Boehner's plan. "There's no chance they have Republican votes to pass that," the lawmaker told the Wall Street Journal. 

In the call, Boehner reminded Republicans of the political backlash their party suffered when the government shut down in 1995-1996, according to one person on the call.

Another participant in the call, Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole, said the speaker's main message was that he and other leaders were still committed to killing President Barack Obama's signature health care law but that they did not want a government shutdown.
Republicans agree strongly on their opposition to Obamacare, viewing the law as a burden to businesses that will cost jobs.

But the party has been roiled by heated debate over the strategy for trying to stop the law.
Hours before Boehner's conference call, about a third of the Republican caucus sent a letter to Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor urging them to oppose any annual spending bills that include funding for Obamacare.

Via: Newsmax

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FISCAL CLIFF DEAL: $1 IN SPENDING CUTS FOR EVERY $41 IN TAX INCREASES

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the last-minute fiscal cliff deal reached by congressional leaders and President Barack Obama cuts only $15 billion in spending while increasing tax revenues by $620 billion—a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.

When Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush increased taxes in return for spending cuts—cuts that never ultimately came—they did so at ratios of 3:1 and 2:1.

“In 1982, President Reagan was promised $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes,” Americans for Tax Reform says of those two incidents. “The tax hikes went through, but the spending cuts did not materialize. President Reagan later said that signing onto this deal was the biggest mistake of his presidency.

"In 1990, President George H.W. Bush agreed to $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes. The tax hikes went through, and we are still paying them today. Not a single penny of the promised spending cuts actually happened.”

Via: Breitbart

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RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH YOUR NEW HEALTHCARE TAXES

Most of the new healthcare taxes will fall on high income earners, but the middle class and medical device industry will also take a hit.

Directly impacting taxpayers is the Medicare tax hike on high income wage earners, higher taxes on investment income, lower contributions to flexible spending accounts and a higher threshold for deducting medical expenses from income tax. 

The Affordable Health Care Act is funded through the Medicare taxes of high income earners. These taxes hit individuals earning over $200,000, and joint filers earning more than $250,000.  Medicare taxes will go up by .9% for these folks and they will be hit with an additional 3.8% on unearned income.

Also hit will be folks who earn a greater share of their income from investments. Even if their regular income isn't high enough for the additional taxes, their investment income would be hit with an additional 4% tax. The consequence will most likely be less investment.

The cost of the Affordable Healthcare Act will not just hit the "rich." Two new taxes will affect the middle-class. Taxpayers used to be able to deduct health care expenses that total more than 7.5% of their income. Starting in 2013, that threshold will rise to 10%. This deduction is most often utilized by lower income earners with high medical bills.

According to Lindsey Buchholz of the H&R Block Tax Institute, about 10 million taxpayers deduct around $80 billion in health care expenses a year.

The second of the two middle class taxes is a limit on flexible spending accounts. Previously there was no limit to what an individual could contribute in pre-tax dollars, but now contributions will be limited to $2500.  These two provisions are expected to raise $40 billion of the next 2 years.

The medical device tax, and addition 2.9% tax on medical devices, is expected to raise $29 Billion over the next ten years.  Unlike other taxes that can be passed on to the consumer, Medicare is the largest purchaser of medical devices; Medicare doesn't function in a free market where companies are able to pass the costs on to consumers. The industry will have no choice but to absorb the costs by cutting the work force or reducing their output.

Happy New Year!

Via: Breitbart

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Lawmakers huddle as options dwindle for tackling fiscal crisis

President Obama and congressional leaders were facing a rapidly shrinking set of options for averting the fiscal crisis as they met Friday afternoon, with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warning they are "running out of time." 

Just a few weeks ago, lawmakers had high hopes for a "grand bargain" that would narrow the deficit, overhaul the tax code and set the country on a course to curb its entitlement spending -- all while averting massive tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit Jan. 1. 

Having squandered that time, lawmakers -- and taxpayers -- will now be lucky if they can just avert the tax hikes.

Obama and the top four congressional leaders were meeting Friday afternoon at the White House, along with Vice President Biden and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. At the meeting, Obama was expected to pitch a "Plan C" that's essentially a version of the scaled-back proposal he floated a week ago before leaving for Hawaii. 

Under the proposal, lawmakers would extend the current tax rates for the "middle class." What income level defines middle class remains up for debate -- Obama had previously pushed for tax hikes on families making over $250,000 and later upped that threshold to $400,000. House Speaker John Boehner, in a proposal that died in the House last week, called for tax hikes only on those making over $1 million. 

Beyond the tax rate issue, Obama wants to extend long-term jobless benefits for 2 million people set to lose them at the end of the year, and perhaps agree to some spending cuts that could short-circuit the automatic spending cuts scheduled to hit the Pentagon next month. 

Via: Fox News

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Hey, let’s elect a new Speaker from outside the House

Ed’s headline in the Greenroom for this piece (written by the co-author of “The Republicans Are the Problem”) tells you all you need to know about what an unserious bit of trolling it is, but I’m oddly comforted to see it show up on WaPo’s op-ed page. It’s proof positive that even the most celebrated newspapers aren’t immune from having to scrounge for content in the news desert between Christmas and New Year’s. Coming tomorrow, presumably: “Let’s repeal term limits for Obama.”

Still, it’s worth writing about for two reasons. One: Conservative dissatisfaction with Boehner is real. We may well end up with a new Speaker on January 3. No harm in thinking about alternatives. Two: It’s a useful prism through which to consider the leadership void in the GOP right now.

What if Boehner doesn’t survive? Go to Article I, Section 2: The Constitution does not say that the speaker of the House has to be a member of the House. In fact, the House can choose anybody a majority wants to fill the post. Every speaker has been a representative from the majority party. But these days, the old pattern clearly is not working…

The best way out of this mess would be to find someone from outside the House to transcend the differences and alter the dysfunctional dynamic we are all enduring. Ideally, that individual would transcend politics and party — but after David Petraeus’s stumble, we don’t have many such candidates. It would have to be a partisan Republican.

One option would be Jon Huntsman. By any reasonable standard, he is a conservative Republican: As governor of Utah, he supported smaller government, lower taxes and balanced budgets, and he opted consistently for market-based solutions. As a presidential candidate, he supported positions that were in the wheelhouse of Ronald Reagan. But a Speaker Huntsman would look beyond party and provide a different kind of leadership. He would drive a hard bargain with the president but would aim for a broad majority from the center out, not from the right fringe in. He could not force legislation onto the floor, but he would have immense moral suasion.

Another option would be Mitch Daniels, the longtime governor of Indiana and a favorite on the right. Daniels has shown a remarkable ability to work with Democrats and Republicans, and he is a genuine fiscal conservative — meaning he does not worship at the shrine of tax cuts if they deepen deficits, and he would look for the kind of balanced approach to the fiscal problem put forward by Simpson-Bowles, ­Rivlin-Domenici and the Gang of Six.

Via: Hot Air
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House, Senate Leaders Frozen On Fiscal Talks

The rhetoric heated up Thursday as time on the clock wound down for a fiscal crisis deal, with lawmakers trickling back into Washington and no plan of action in place for averting the tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to hit next week. 

President Obama returned Thursday afternoon from vacation in Hawaii, as the Senate gaveled into session for unrelated business. House leaders announced that members will return late Sunday – but that leaves just one full day to act on any legislation before the deadline passes.

Rumors were flying Thursday afternoon about last-ditch efforts to craft some sort of a scaled-back package that can shield most Americans from the more than $500 billion in tax hikes scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

But with hope fading, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said on the floor that “it looks like” the nation is going to miss the deadline.

Reid also put all the blame on House Speaker John Boehner, likening him to a dictator and claiming he was putting his speakership before the good of the country.   

"John Boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than about keeping the nation on firm financial footing," Reid said. "He's waiting until Jan. 3 to get re-elected as speaker before he gets serious with negotiations because he has so many people ... that won't follow what he wants."

Via: Fox News

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WSJ: Obama Threatened Boehner With Using Inauguration, SOTU Address To Blame GOP

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 21: U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a statement on fiscal cliff at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House December 21, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama called on congressional leaders to work out a solution on the fiscal cliff over the Christmas break. He also said "becaues we didn't get this done, I will see you next week." (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

President Obama has threatened House Speaker John Boehner that if no deal is struck on the “fiscal cliff,” he will use his Inaugural address and State of the Union speech next month to blame Republicans,according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the Journal’s behind the scenes account of how fiscal cliff talks between Obama and Boehner hit a wall, what comes across is that the president is emboldened by his reelection and eager to extract more concessions from Boehner than he was willing to accept during last summer’s debt limit talks.

This excerpt from the piece is revealing:

Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn’t reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were at fault.

At one point, according to notes taken by a participant, Mr. Boehner told the president, “I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?”

“You get nothing,” the president said. “I get that for free.”

Via: Washington Examiner

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Reagan’s House Heroes Stop Plan B

Call it a Reykjavik Moment.

An Air Traffic Controllers Moment.

Both of which were Reagan Moments.

Moments in American history when, under extreme pressure, Ronald Reagan simply refused to buckle. Against all the chorus shouted from the media and congressional bleachers — that he had failed by walking out on a bad deal with Gorbachev or recklessly fired striking air traffic controllers who were striking against federal law — Ronald Reagan never blinked.

And the fact that he didn’t blink made America — and the world — an infinitely better place.

Thursday night 13 conservative House Republicans defeated the Rule for the vote on Speaker Boehner’s highly controversial “Plan B.”

Those conservatives, by name (an asterisk denoting those who will not be returning to Congress next year) are:

Justin Amash of MI
Paul Broun of GA
Trent Franks of AZ
Louie Gohmert of TX
Tim Huelskamp of KS
Walter Jones of NC
Jim Jordan of OH
Andy Harris of MD
Jeff Landry of LA*
Thomas Massie of KY
Ron Paul of TX*
Jean Schmidt of OH*
Joe Walsh of IL*

Let’s not forget here that in terms of pressure, a great deal of it was coming from the GOP House Leadership. Congressmen Amash, Huelskamp, and Jones were removed from their committee assignments for not cooperating with the Leadership.

And make no mistake….the talk radio stars jumped on this, each in their own way. Rush was there. Hannity was there. Levin was there.

Then there was the great Brent Bozell from For America (as reported at Breitbart) pounding away just Wednesday at a Capitol Hill presser saying:

I’m going to make a prediction, right here and now, and write it down – and call me on it. If the Republicans support this tax increase, they will lose control of the House in the 2014 elections,” Bozell said.

Via: The American Spectator

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Leader Reid rules out Senate vote on 'Plan B'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday the Senate will not vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) "Plan B" to extend tax rates for family income below $1 million.

The Democratic leader blasted Boehner for wasting time on "fiscal cliff" legislation that will not see floor time in the upper chamber.

“We are not taking up any of the things that they’re working on over there now,” Reid told reporters. “It’s very, very, very unfortunate the Republicans have wasted an entire week on a number of pointless political stunts.” 

“The bill has no future, if they don’t know it now, tell them what I said,” he added.

Reid said Boehner should schedule a House vote on the Senate-passed bill to extend the Bush-era tax rates for family income below $250,000.  

“The Senate bill is the only one that will be signed into law. We could protect middle-class families tomorrow,” Reid said. “The Speaker refuses to bring our bill to the floor because it would pass.”

Republicans argue the Senate-passed bill is not a solution to the stalemate because it would allow tax rates on inheritances and dividend income to rise dramatically.

Democratic leaders say the GOP plan will not see the light of day in the upper chamber because it raises taxes on middle-class families, does not extend the college tuition tax credit, the earned income tax credit or the child tax credit and includes an “unrealistic proposal” for the estate tax. 

Boehner’s plan would keep the top estate tax rate at 35 percent. It is scheduled to rise to 55 percent without congressional action.

Via: The Hill

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Pelosi claims 60 percent chance she’ll return as speaker despite polls to the contrary

In the end Pelosi will be the big loser and so will the party 

Nancy Pelosi told reporters Friday that she has a 60 percent chance of retaking the speaker’s gavel from John Boehner come January due to Republican plans to restructure Medicare for those 55 and younger.

“The momentum is coming our way,” Politico quoted Pelosi as saying.

Yet Pelosi’s rhetoric fails to square with polling data suggesting Democrats may pick up four seats and fall far short of the 25 seats Democrats need to reclaim the majority.

“[O]verall conclusions are pretty similar — modest Democratic gains, but continued Republican control,” Kyle Klondik, House editor for Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” writes.

Other political pundits see similar wishful thinking in Pelosi’s comment.

“With the economy soft and 25 seats needed to retake the chamber, Democrats face considerable odds,” theBoston Globe reported Thursday . “Even as polls show public approval of Congress sinking to an all-time low, the vast majority of incumbents will win easy reelection.”

Pelosi also repeated her contention that Romney will go down in flames against President Obama.

“I don’t think there’s any way on the face of the earth that Mitt Romney wins the presidential,” Pelosi said.

Via Red Alert Politics

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Boehner: Obama Has “Never Even Had A Real Job, For God’s Sake”…

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) lashed out at President Obama during an interview Tuesday, saying the president has "never even had a real job, for God's sake."

Boehner was discussing the presidential election, and accusing President Obama's campaign team of using "over-the-top" rhetoric to distract from his economic record.

Sometimes I have to catch my breath and slow down because the rhetoric in this campaign is just so over-the-top," Bohener said during an appearance on "Kilmeade and Friends." "And that's because the president's policies have failed. Listen — 93 percent of Americans believe they're a part of the middle class. That's why you hear the president talk about the middle class every day, because he's talking to 93 percent of the American people."

Via: The Hill

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Jobless Claims on the Rise Again.

After digesting the unemployment numbers for the last few days, there is every indication that very few jobs are being created, as this administration continues to flounder.  They can boast all they want about the jobs that have been created in the past year, but the underlying consequences do not reflect the true picture of the job market.  When it is said that their are 766,000 less women working than three years ago, I have to pause and ask what's next? Veterans unemployment rates are also climbing at an alarming rate. This weeks new claims reached a four week high of 386,000 which are 6,000 more than the previous week.

Its hard to get excited when only 69,000 jobs were created in May. The revised job numbers for March and April show that 49,000 fewer jobs were created than originally  reported.  It just keeps getting worse and with no end in sight for an already floundering economy the only good news is it will spell doom for the re-election efforts of Obama. On June 14, 2012 House Speaker John Boehner released the following video showing the jobs bills that have been passed by the House but  still sit languishing in the Senate. Harry Reid has virtually put a halt to all legislation that would put people to work and jump start the economy.