With House members caucusing on New Years Day evening, the fate of the one-day-late bill to avoid the "Fiscal Cliff" that passed the U.S. Senate early this AM remains in doubt
In the early hours of the 2013, the White House and the U.S. Senate agreed upon a "Small Deal" on taxes and spending. The Senate fiscal cliff compromise bill was passed by the Senate by an overwhelming 89-8 vote. That compromise bill resulted in raising income taxes for individuals making $400,000 and married couples earning $450,000 from 35 percent to 39.6 percent and to permanently extend Bush-era tax cuts for those earning less than $400,000 annually. Along with a lot of other taxes and plenty of "agreed-upon" spending, the bill pushed back the universally feared sequester two months. Let's call that Senate Bill --- "The Lady."
So far, House Republicans have expressed some opposition to the Senate-passed effort to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’ in its current form. During a two-hour session GOP leaders have considered sending an amended bill back to the Senate.
A recent report from the House Republican Caucus is that once amendment language has been finalized, there will be a "Whip Count" and if the amendment to the Senate Bill appears to have 218 votes, it will be put on the House floor for a vote. Let's call that option --- "The Tiger I."
If the amendment language does not gain the support of 218 congressmen, the Office of the Speaker has indicated that the language of the Senate-passed Bill will be put on the House floor for an up or down vote. If that vote does not get a majority of those voting, the Senate-passed Bill will fail. Let's call that possibility --- "The Tiger II."
UPDATE: Given the choices in my post above, a "Lame Duck Session" of the House of Representatives picked "The Lady" for President Obama. Congress passed what I just heard described as the "Fiscal Cliff Avoidance Bill" on MSNBC; and both Obama and the Main Stream Media are doing victory laps as I make this update. They are also predicting a new cooperative [compliant] GOP majority in the House starting in 2013.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there was token Republican opposition in the House, the aptly named "Bi-partisan" bill was allowed to be passed with a majority of Democrat votes with a minority of Republican support. Various face saving measures like attempting to amend the senate-passed bill and/or having a majority of Republicans vote against the final bill were no more than a fig leaf to cover a complete lack of balls by a majority of Republicans in the House, including most if not all of the GOP leadership in the House.
UPDATE/CORRECTION: It doesn't appear that there was any vote to amend the senate-passed bill in the House of Representatives.
ReplyDelete