Democrats to hold votes on tax cuts

WASHINGTON: After meeting with President Barack Obama Thursday, Democratic leaders in Congress said that they planned to hold a series of politically charged votes to extend middle-class tax cuts while letting tax cuts for the wealthy expire.

The Associated Press reported on Friday that Republicans were expected to block the plan, leaving both sides back at square one as they try to negotiate a deal to spare families at every income level from a big tax increase in January.

Democratic officials said Obama did not embrace a particular approach to the tax cuts in his Oval Office meeting with Democratic leaders.

He indicated he wanted to wait for a meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders on November 30 before staking out a position.

A Connecticut independent who caucuses with the Democrats, Senator Joseph Lieberman said, “I think there‘s a reality here which is that while it might be best to continue the middle-class tax cuts and raise taxes on higher income people, the votes are not there to do that.

“I think everybody‘s got to deal with a stark reality which is, are we going to leave here knowing that we haven‘t come to an agreement and that everybody‘s taxes are going to go up January 1,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader, Mr. Harry Reid, said he would like to schedule competing votes on the Senate floor.

One would be on Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell‘s bill to make all the tax cuts permanent; the other would be on a Democratic plan to extend only the middle class tax cuts. Neither is expected to pass.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she planned to hold a similar vote on extending the middle-class tax cuts in early December.

“We‘re united in recognising we have to protect the middle class,” Reid said of Senate Democrats.

McConnell said, ”Votes structured for symbolic reasons in December won‘t prevent a tax hike in January. It‘s not enough to talk about the problem of the looming tax hike on families and hundreds of thousands of small businesses across the country, we have to fix it.”

Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress want to extend the tax cuts for individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000. Republicans and a growing number of rank-and-file Democrats want to extend them all.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201011211324589