Christmas did not come early for Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH).
Boehner failed to garner enough votes in the House to push through his “Plan B” this evening. That plan would have extended existing tax cuts through next year for taxpayers except those earning $1 million or more. President Obama’s original version of the plan would extend those same tax cuts for taxpayers earning less than $250,000; he had bumped that number to $400,000 earlier this week.
“Plan B” was touted as the “millionaire tax” and appeared to have enough support among Republicans to pass. The plan was opposed by House Democrats who supported the lower threshold offered by the President.
It was, however, dissent inside the GOP that triggered the failure of the bill. Tonight, just before the House went on its planned holiday break, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced that there would not be a vote.
Failure to compromise? Or political strategy? With the House throwing its hands up in the air, it’s now up to the Democrat majority in the Senate to save the day – or take the fall.
Most of the Senate was out today in order to attend a memorial service in Hawaii on Friday for deceased Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI). The Senate claims it will be back in Washington next Thursday, on December 27, to work out a deal. The House will not be in session; they have, not surprisingly, already said their goodbyes (something they’ve become very good at doing this year).
Earlier in the day, the GOP in the House did make inroads on a bill to cut spending. The suggested cuts, however, aren’t nearly enough to make up the existing shortfall and the failure to come to terms on a revenue bill doesn’t help matters. The White House has indicated that it would veto the bill but that won’t make any difference since the Senate has signaled that the bill is dead.
Despite that fact, Speaker Boehner pointed to the vote as a step forward, saying:
The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass. Now it is up to the president to work with Senator Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff. The House has already passed legislation to stop all of the January 1 tax rate increases and replace the sequester with responsible spending cuts that will begin to address our nation’s crippling debt. The Senate must now act.
It’s kind of like the offense on a football team failing to score and then saying that, if the team loses, it’s all the fault of the defense. No matter what happens next week, let’s be clear: the House punted on this one.
