U.S. Fiscal Cliff

**Niiro** · 2012-12-06 18:49

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.

I'd like to think this was Harry Reid's reaction...

(independent of it's original context it fits perfectly)

**Xno Kappa** · 2012-12-06 19:41

What a fucking fail. How could Republicans state they aren't abusing filibusters when this nigga just filibustered his own proposal lmao.

**archibaldcrane** · 2012-12-06 20:10

I just love how it's a double-fail - not only did they fail in being able to say "See? Even the Democrats don't like this proposal!" but then they also get tagged with "Republicans are extremely irresponsible with filibuster power" on top of it.

**Cleverness** · 2012-12-06 20:20

I can't wait for this to show up on Daily Show/Colbert Report.

**Athas** · 2012-12-06 21:15

Have to wait till next week most like, though I did like the bit on the UN treaty.

**Callisto** · 2012-12-20 21:59

Not sure if people are still keeping up with this, but:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/h...-politics.html

In a stinging setback for Republican House Speaker John Boehner, a lack of support from inside his own party for his “fiscal cliff” fall-back plan forced him late Thursday to cancel a much-trumpeted vote on the measure. “The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass,” Boehner said in a written statement released after an emergency meeting of House Republicans.

The measure, dubbed “Plan B,” would have let Bush-era tax cuts expire on income above $1 million annually, while extending them for everyone else. It appeared that Boehner faced a rebellion from conservatives opposed to any tax hike, while House Democrats starved the bill of their support, making passage impossible.

Boehner’s dramatic defeat cast fresh doubt on efforts to avert the “fiscal cliff” and spare Americans across-the-board income tax hikes come Jan. 1. Those increases, coupled with deep automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect the same day, could plunge the fragile economy into a new recession. Talks between the speaker and President Barack Obama were at a stalemate, according to aides on both sides.

After the cancellation of the vote, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced on Twitter the House "has concluded legislative business for the week. The House will return after the Christmas holiday when needed."

Boehner’s “Plan B” had aimed to shift any blame for going over the "fiscal cliff" to Obama and Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid. Polls show a narrow majority of Americans say they would hold the GOP responsible if a deal is not reached to avert the "cliff."

“Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff,” the speaker said. He pointed to House passage of Republican bills that would stop all of the tax increases and replace the automatic cuts. “The Senate must now act.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Thursday night that Obama's "main priority is to ensure that taxes don’t go up on 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses in just a few short days. The president will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy."

The vote had initially been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. But House Republican leaders’ vote counting showed up coming up short. Rather than suffer a defeat in a floor vote, they pulled the bill.
Earlier, the White House had pressed Boehner to stick with negotiations with Obama and threatened to veto “Plan B,” which top Senate Democrats mocked as “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber.
“Instead of taking the opportunity that was presented to them to continue to negotiate what could be a very helpful, large deal for the American people, the Republicans in the House have decided to run down an alley that has no exit while we all watch,” Carney told reporters.

He also indicated that communications, even at the staff level, were on hold.

President Barack Obama waves to the media as he walks from Marine One to the Oval Office of the White House (Carolyn …One early sign of trouble for Boehner came in a too-narrow-for-comfort vote victory on the second part of his plan, which would have replaced the automatic cuts in defense and domestic spending–the so-called “sequester”–with a Republican alternative. That measure passed by a 215-209 margin.

Before that, lawmakers had defeated a Democratic attempt to derail the process by a 179-243 margin.

The “Plan B” push had pitted Boehner against conservative groups like the anti-tax Club for Growth and Heritage Action–which warned lawmakers the results would go on their permanent records.
But even a victory for Boehner would have been mostly symbolic.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered the “fiscal cliff” equivalent to Monty Python’s “dead parrot” sketch, dismissing "Plan B" as a “pointless political stunt,” declaring that Boehner’s efforts were “non-starters in the Senate” and insisting that “House Republicans know that the bill has no future.”

“If they don’t know it now, tell them what I said,” Reid said. “It’s time for Republicans to get serious” about negotiating with Obama. (Anyone still think the parrot is just resting? No. 2 Senate Democrat Dick Durbin bluntly declared “Plan B” to be “dead on arrival.”)

Reid also announced that the Senate would be back at work on Dec. 27. (Earlier, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said representatives would not leave town immediately after the "Plan B" vote.)

Boehner shrugged off Reid’s comments.

“After today, Senate Democrats and the White House are going to have to act on this measure,” he told reporters. “And if Senate Democrats and the White House refuse to act, they’ll be responsible for the largest tax hike in American history.”

Boehner had declared himself “hopeful” that he and Obama can reach a broader deal and insisted he was “not convinced at all that when the bill passes the House today it will die in the Senate.”
The White House, which had already leveled a veto threat, blasted “Plan B” in a blog post as “nothing more than a dangerous diversion” that scraps funding for services like Meals on Wheels, which reaches some 1.7 million elderly people, as well as child care programs and initiatives that help homeowners prevent foreclosure.

Some analysts had noted that Obama and Boehner were just a few billion dollars apart and that “Plan B” could turn out to the be the legislative vehicle for any final compromise deal.

“We will have to be here the 27th no matter what happens,” Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said. “If there’s no agreement we have to be here to try and hammer out something. If there is an agreement it’ll take several days to write it up–our poor staffs will have to be doing it during the holiday–and then vote on it the 27th.”

Democrats argued that Obama’s latest offer to Boehner included a sizable concession. The president said Monday that he’d accept rates going up on household income above $400,000, rather than $250,000, the number he cited throughout his reelection campaign.

Obama's new proposal also calls for raising $1.2 trillion in new tax revenues on individual income–down from $1.4 trillion in his previous proposal and $1.6 trillion in his opening gambit–coupled with about $1 trillion in spending cuts. The president’s proposal includes about $130 billion saved by adopting lower cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security, something liberal Democrats oppose.

Republicans charged that the president was relying on dodgy math by including interest that won’t have to be paid on the national debt thanks to the savings–even though Boehner has embraced that accounting maneuver in the past.

Early in the day, Boehner himself had rejected charges that “Plan B” showed that he feared he would be unable to rally enough Republicans behind a more comprehensive deal.

“Listen, the president knows that I’ve been able to keep my word on every agreement we’ve ever made,” he said.

Seems like a pretty tough blow for Boehner, the idea was that after Plan B passed, if him and Obama hadn't come to an agreement by 1/1/13 he could basically blame it on the President, and now that scapegoat is toast, leaving Obama with a larger share of leverage.

**archibaldcrane** · 2012-12-20 22:06

Obama needs to stick to his latest proposal, see if he can get any house Republicans to break rank and vote for it (tax increases back to Clinton levels on people making 400k or more, still less than 1% of the population), and if not, go over the cliff and start on Jan 1st from the other side.

If Boehner can't even get house republicans to sign off on tax increases for those making 1M or more, shit is doomed from that side.

**archibaldcrane** · 2012-12-20 22:07

Also then he can troll the fuck out of everyone by calling them the "Obama Tax Cuts".

**Callisto** · 2012-12-20 22:13

I think Obama's in a good spot on taxes, but I wouldn't mind seeing him give up a bit more in spending cuts, but even if they do idk if they'd take it out of somewhere decent, not like we could lessen defense spending in lieu of entitlement cuts.

**Bregor** · 2012-12-20 22:41

Yeah was seeing a lot about this on Twitter, but mostly just bad puns about Boehner's "plan B" and "ZOMG Tea Party working with liberals, 2012 is real" jokes. Also I love Boehner's comments, "Now it's up to Obama and Reid because I can't do my fucking job." Terrible.

It's sad that Congress can't agree that letting tax cuts expire for people making over $1 million would be a good compromise to start with.

**Callisto** · 2012-12-20 22:45

I more think it's funny that he partially got boned by people protecting those making $1m+

**Correction** · 2012-12-21 02:31

Boehner's done, he and his whip can't even muster the votes to pass something he went on TV to promote as the GOP's best offer. Guy's just done as Speaker. Even right-wing bloggers say he's done.

Unfortunately his caucus has rendered Boehner a nonplayer in any future fiscal negotiation because he can no longer speak for his conference. Perhaps Boehner should quit and let the House GOP stew and watch as the country grabs pitchforks and torches to come after the tax-hikers. This is a party acting like a minority party, or worse, like petulant teenagers.

The world of Heritage Action Network, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and the other all-or-nothing hard-liners in the conservative media have encouraged and will delight in this sort of fiasco. That said, the fault lies with the spineless members who think they’ll escape blame if they don’t vote for any measure. That is folly, not to mention political cowardice. To govern is to choose, and they apparently can do neither.

This sort of display suggests Republicans are not capable of governing. What was an argument by Democrats (They are unreasonable! They only care for the rich!) is now a political reality.

When I posed the question “What next?” to several senior Republicans, the answer came back, ” I really don’t know” or “Good question.” What we do know is that House Republicans may have confirmed the good judgment of the American people in keeping divided government. Goodness knows none of these people can be trusted.

**Correction** · 2012-12-21 02:40

OH HO HO HO HO

**Dimmauk** · 2012-12-21 10:41

When boenher ended his pathetic speech with Merry Christmas, I wanted to punch his fucking face.

**Dotsudoku** · 2012-12-21 12:52

Originally Posted by Correction

OH HO HO HO HO

God damn some of these got me

"Rebel Without a Caucus"

**archibaldcrane** · 2012-12-21 13:19

By the way, in case anyone hasn't figured this out...

we're going off the cliff

**Blubbartron** · 2012-12-21 13:31

Originally Posted by archibaldcrane

By the way, in case anyone hasn't figured this out...

we're going off the cliff

Insert Samuel L. Jackson - "hold onto your butts" here.

**Ragnus** · 2012-12-21 13:42

I never thought it would happen. Could going over the cliff possibly be the Republican party starting to crumble on top of finally getting rid of the Bush Tax Cuts?

**archibaldcrane** · 2012-12-21 13:50

Don't forget some nice cuts to the military too!

**Cantih** · 2012-12-21 13:51

Originally Posted by archibaldcrane

we're going off the cliff

I wouldn't put money on it juuuust yet.
There is still a slight chance of some shady as fuck backroom deal happening between the 27th and 31st. Which will probably be worse than going over.
Alternately, a miracle happens and a few dozen sane house republicans break ranks and defect to the dems. It's not a perfect moment for it, but the situation bumps the chances from none to slim.

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