Senate Democrats Increase Pressure on House Republicans
EmailSenate Democrats, already home for the holidays, are ramping up the rhetoric, calling on the House of Representatives via a conference call today to pass the Senate bill that included a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.
“Let me make an offer to Speaker Boehner on behalf of Senate Democrats,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said today. “This can be a way out of the box he’s put himself in: If it’s really a one-year deal you want … so do we. We’ll be the first ones on a plane to work on that one-year deal, but on one condition: The only thing we want is for you to first pass the Senate’s two-month agreement.”
For the first time, there was the suggestion that if the House passes the two-month deal, then the Senate could potentially come back to Washington next week and work toward a year-long deal.
“If the House GOP won’t agree to a two-month deal, how we can believe they’d ever agree to a full year deal in the next 10 days? That’s why we want a two-month deal up front,” Schumer said. “Pass that, and we can negotiate a longer-term extension right away, and maybe we can have the whole thing done by New Year’s.”
Democrats are trying to paint this as the House Republicans only option, confident that if the House of Representatives holds a real up-or-down vote on the Senate bill it will pass.
“They are pretty far down a dead-end path right now,” Schumer said. “There’s not enough time for House Republicans to worry about saving face. They’ve lost a lot of that already.”
Schumer called the House Republicans idea to appoint conferees for a conference committee to negotiate between the House and Senate bills a “charade.”
“It’s hard to take that idea seriously,” Schumer said, “when the speaker’s co-called conferees are all opponents of the payroll tax cut.”
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Can someone please expalin to brainchild Schummer – the House already passed a ONE YEAR Extension.
Posted by: jamescbuilder | December 21, 2011, 2:52 pm 2:52 pm
Oh, oh, party’s getting rough again…..they have let Schumer mout of his cage……..and he will have the fix in by New Year’s???? Let the party begin!
Posted by: justj joey | December 21, 2011, 2:52 pm 2:52 pm
“If the House GOP won’t agree to a two-month deal, how we can believe they’d ever agree to a full year deal in the next 10 days?”===================True . Conservatives lie , it’s basically all they do . They have no intention of agreeing to anything that Grover Norquist and Big Oil . haven’t enthusiastically green lighted . The House majority is currently engaged in more petty obtuse pandering to the illiterate electorate calling themselves conservatives , nothing new here . Duh.
Posted by: davem | December 21, 2011, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
Schumer still doesn’t get it; the republicans in the House (tea party) don’t want any kind of a deal. They’ve signed binding pledges to Grover Norquist to do nothing. Make government look bad so their big business agenda can take hold.
Posted by: tmferretti | December 21, 2011, 3:12 pm 3:12 pm
“Can someone please expalin to brainchild Schummer – the House already passed a ONE YEAR Extension.”================Can someone please explain to the numbskulls that the version the House passed had unpaid for , US debt increasing pork added to it by , guess who , the House majority ( i.e. the Teapublican loons ) and THAT is why it was rejected by the Senate , on a bipartisan vote as well. Conservatives hate facts because the blow giant holes in their lame Swiss cheese arguments / assertions. Idiots .
Posted by: TimDAVISDSON | December 21, 2011, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
Time for Committees is over. The GOP’s so called “Super Committee” – failure. The House extension bill rejected by Senate and President so what does Speaker Boehner do. Does he negotiate and work with the White House or his counter parts in the other House. NO – he waits until the end of the year thinking that the President and the Senate will cave into my demands instead of letting this extension expire. What he did not expect is the American people to see through his political game playing. Today he twitted “GOP at the table”. That is well and good but the Speaker should have been at that table 6 months ago. He should have been at that table when the President first asked for the 1 year extension. He should have been at the table when he was told the Senate and the White House would not support the House bill instead of waiting till the midnight hour. Boehner miscalculated and in doing so not only blindsided his own party but the American people. He has guaranteed the Republicans will lose the House of Representatives. So for all those missteps I am going to forever call this “Boehner’s Blunder”
Posted by: MTATL67 | December 21, 2011, 3:21 pm 3:21 pm
Sounds like a deal to me, pass the Senate bill as is, extend it for a year, end of story. What don’t the confederacy of dunces (tea party get)? If the House has already passed the one year extension, what are they doing with all these conference committees, just give it back to the Senate and let them extend it for a year.
Posted by: tmferretti | December 21, 2011, 3:27 pm 3:27 pm
As a retort to those on here who blame the Conservatives for all their woes..its the LIBERAL government entitlements that have us in this huge hole anyway! Yes, its nice to help people out, its nice to have a safety net if needed, BUT… WE CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY IT. Why can the Liberals who LOVE to waste money not see that? Are they that stupid? The problem ISNT too little in taxation..the problem is that Congress, the White House, and all of these parasitic politicians in DC want to stay in power, so we get the Roman Empire response…”bread and circuses”, instead of truly trying to resolve the deficit.
Posted by: angus | December 21, 2011, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
and as an end note…if Schumer is behind it, it must be bad, I refuse to trust a politico who who wishes to deny us our Constitutional rights…i.e., 2nd Amendment.
Posted by: angus | December 21, 2011, 3:54 pm 3:54 pm
tm i agree with you. kick it back to the senate and have them extend it for 1 year. hooray we are on the same page. the problem is the senate wont take it back and extend it for a year its all bull. get the senate back mr obama and get er done like you promissed or you would call them all back. love to see it but you wont its a fraud by the dems.
Posted by: catman | December 21, 2011, 4:01 pm 4:01 pm
I hope the republicans fester in their own waste on this one. They DESERVE all the blame they get. Boehner is a complete BONEHEAD and the fact that he has that big gavel to slam down means NOTHING because he hasn’t a CLUE about LEADING the House of Reps at all.
Posted by: demNme5 | December 21, 2011, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm
As soon as the House is done fooling around, send it to Harry Reid’s desk in the Senate. The President will ask (he can’t force them) the Senate to come back, take a few hours and pass the damn extension, maybe I’m thick but what’s the problem?
It could be the republicans in the Senate don’t want a year so they can use the tax reduction as leverage for the pipeline. In any event the Senate and House republicans need to communicate.
Posted by: tmferretti | December 21, 2011, 4:11 pm 4:11 pm
TMFERRETTI: That “leverage” you speak of is really EXTORTION and they USE it way too often.
Posted by: demNme5 | December 21, 2011, 4:20 pm 4:20 pm