U.S. Fiscal Cliff

[Outlaw]

Really?

Yes really. Let's say someone is worth 200 million or so. Even if they pay 50,000 dollars more in taxes per year or however much more it would be they are still going to be rich! That's a drop in the ocean to them. Their bank accounts probably generate ten times more in interest in one year. You have no excuse to be that greedy.

[Vuitton]

The fun thing is, if nothing happens, the date passes, and cuts come into effect.

The very next thing Obama and the Senate are going to do is put NEW legislation on the block comprised of middle class tax relief, and probably a bump in funding back to the entitlements that got hit with automatic cuts (and defense too, lets be honest here, and a bump back for defense makes it easier for the conservative base to swallow). Maybe the top percent will see a tax hike in the package, but it's smarter politically to leave it at just the top rate Bush cuts expiring for now.
All of that is going to have Obama's name and the Dems stamped all over it, it'll never be "the Bush middle class tax cuts".

If the republicans in the House go against that package, it is going to be RIDICULOUSLY easy to turn the electorate against them.

I am all for going over the cliff. I want the "Bush Tax Cuts" to go away. The GOP will lose a key bargaining chip they've had for too long (the middle class tax cuts that are part of the Bush tax cuts). Then they'll have nothing.

[Bregor]

You have no excuse to be that greedy.

Capitalism, etc.

[noblemountain]

Yes really. Let's say someone is worth 200 million or so. Even if they pay 50,000 dollars more in taxes per year or however much more it would be they are still going to be rich! That's a drop in the ocean to them. Their bank accounts probably generate ten times more in interest in one year. You have no excuse to be that greedy.

[Xno Kappa]

GOP leaders remove 4 from plum House committees.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker John Boehner's decision to take plum committee assignments away from four conservative Republican lawmakers after they bucked party leaders on key votes isn't going over well with advocacy groups that viewed them as role models.

Reps. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan will lose their seats on the House Budget Committee chaired by Rep. Paul Ryan next year. And Reps. Walter Jones of North Carolina and David Schweikert of Arizona are losing their seats on the House Financial Services Committee.

The move is underscoring a divide in the Republican Party between tea party-supported conservatives and the House GOP leadership.

"This is a clear attempt on the part of Republican leadership to punish those in Washington who vote the way they promised their constituents they would — on principle — instead of mindlessly rubber-stamping trillion dollar deficits and the bankrupting of America," said Matt Kibbe, president of the tea party group FreedomWorks.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, would only say Tuesday that the party's steering committee chaired by the speaker made the decision "based on a range of factors."

Groups aligned with the tea party movement were generally big supporters of Huelskamp, Amash and Schweikert. Jones is viewed more as a conservative maverick than a tea party Republican. He has frequently siding against GOP leaders on a range of issues over the years. For example, he voted against the GOP budget because he opposed the changes proposed for Medicare.

Schweikert said it was made clear to him "I should vote for the team more."

"Look, we're walking into the 113th Congress with a smaller majority," Schweikert said. "I would have though the fixation would have been family unity. This isn't the way you start a family meeting."

"The GOP leadership might think they have silenced conservatives, but removing me and others from key committees only confirms our conservative convictions," Huelskamp said in a statement Tuesday. "This is clearly a vindictive move and a sure sign that the GOP establishment cannot handle disagreement."

All four lawmakers had voted against the summer 2011 deal negotiated between Republican leaders and President Barack Obama for extending the government's ability to borrow money in exchange for $1 trillion in spending cuts and the promise of another $1 trillion in reduced deficits. Three of the four, the exception being Schweikert, voted against the Ryan-written GOP budget blueprint that the House passed last March.

Their removal from key committees with jurisdiction over the two issues was viewed by some as a signal to other Republican lawmakers to look favorably on whatever final deal Boehner and Obama put together to avert a "fiscal cliff" combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January.

"It's sending a clear message to get behind the leadership no matter what the policy is, and that is contrary to what the Republicans supposedly stand for," Freedomworks' Kibbe said.

"If it was intended to be a signal, it's going to be a weak signal because the majority of conservatives are going to do what they think is right based on principle," Jones, the North Carolina congressman, said.

Amash said he has not been told specifically why he was removed, only that it was not based on his votes and that he should go talk to leadership. He said he voted with the Budget Committee's leadership 95 percent of the time. He said the move is likely to make him more independent in the future.

"Being nice to leadership and playing well with them doesn't pay off," Amash said. "They expect a near total agreement with their approach."

The changes in committee assignments could bring about more discipline from the GOP on high-priority issues next Congress, but conservatives were taking the news as an attack on their priorities.

"As the sun rises this morning we can look at John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy and know the opposition is not just across the aisle, but in charge of our own side in the House of Representatives," Erick Erickson wrote on the conservative website, RedState. "All the time and energy I would otherwise have to spend to convince conservatives that these gentlemen would be a problem for the GOP has been spared. They've proven it themselves."

[archibaldcrane]

Excellent.

[Ksandra]

why is embed not working? ><

ftfy

anytime the link is "https" delete the "s"

[Mazmaz]

Wait, wait.
What if koch brothers... are actually deep-cover liberals?

[noblemountain]

ftfy

anytime the link is "https" delete the "s"

ahh...tyty^^

[Salodin]

So the gop is cutting the tea party fat. Looks like some good change is already happening.

[Bregor]

GOP leaders remove 4 from plum House committees.

Not that I want tea partiers in positions of power, but Boehner is pretty much the worst. Between Pelosi and Boehner we've had almost six years of ineptitude in the Speaker's chair.

[Melena]

Not that I want tea partiers in positions of power, but Boehner is pretty much the worst. Between Pelosi and Boehner we've had almost six years of ineptitude in the Speaker's chair.

This, if the two of them fell off a cliff I doubt many tears on each side would be shed.

[mallister]

i dunno. it's an unenviable job. being speaker has to be like herding cats. how much do any of you think you could get accomplished in their stead?

[Bregor]

i dunno. it's an unenviable job. being speaker has to be like herding cats. how much do any of you think you could get accomplished in their stead?

Well I wouldn't use committee leadership positions as personal vendettas, and I wouldn't stall important legislation that deserves an up-or-down vote. I understood the strategy of gridlock > blame Obama before the presidential election, but if it continues it's just fucking stupid.

For having the House majority, this batch of Republicans are a bunch of little bitches.

[Ragnus]

[shaggnix]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...ot-nothin.html

couple days old

TL;DR

The Republicans are losing, and time is running out. But instead of putting the quarterback on the field and rolling out an aggressive two-minute drill, they seem to be preparing to punt.

[Cantih]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2251515.html

A move to embarrass Democrats backfired on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday as the Kentucky Republican proposed a vote on raising the nation's debt ceiling -- then filibustered it when the Democrats tried to take him up on the offer.

[kuronosan]

Fucking Lol

[Guyverarmor]

Fucking owned.

[Salodin]

Why would he think the dems would do anything other then that? Fucking fail.