RightChange: Speaker Boehner’s Tax Cut Proposal

Proving yet again that he is a better Chess player than the President, Speaking Boehner makes this move.  Mr. Obama has demanded Congress give him a clean payroll tax cut extension, just like he did back in August with the debt ceiling.  House Republicans attached a provision to force Obama to deal with the Keystone issue before the elections.  Mr. Obama said he would veto any measure from the House that was not a clean payroll tax cut extension.

Speaker Boehner moved forward on defying the President:

“For House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), there’s nothing like a presidential veto threat to make his job easier.

The Speaker earned positive reviews for the revised payroll tax cut package he presented to the House Republican conference Thursday, a sharp turnaround from the resistance he faced from conservatives when he first outlined his plan last week.

Republican leaders added a number of sweeteners to the package to win conservative support, but several lawmakers said that more than anything else, the turning point was President Obama’s threat on Wednesday to reject the payroll tax bill if the House attached a provision forcing administrative action on the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.”

Here is Boehner’s plan:

“The plan Boehner unveiled would extend the payroll tax cut, reform and extend unemployment insurance benefits and fix the Medicare reimbursement rate for doctors. He proposes to pay for those measures by extending a federal worker pay freeze, increasing fees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and trimming certain federal and Medicare benefits for the wealthy, among other items.

In addition to the Keystone measure, the package will include provisions to delay Environmental Protection Agency regulations on industrial boilers and to restrict tax credits for illegal immigrants.”

The Democrats already warned they would win the messaging war if the GOP did not approve the payroll tax cuts, but this is a deal that will trip them up. They can’t say the GOP wants Grandma to die, as this fixes the Medicare reimbursement for doctors. They can’t say the GOP hates poor people, as this extends the unemployment benefits.  The only thing Democrats can claim is that Republicans want to force Obama to actually make a decision without reelection in mind.  Which that is something we all want to see!

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