Today in Washington D. C. - March 6, 2008

On The Floor: Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM. Following an hour of morning business, the Senate resumed consideration of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) overhaul bill (S. 2663). Roll call votes are expected throughout the day. The Senate Budget Committee continued its markup of the Democrats’ fiscal 2009 budget proposal at 9:30 this morning. The House Budget Committee passed the House Democrats’ budget last night on a 22-16 party line vote.

From Senate & News Sources: As the Democrats’ budget proposals for the next year are being considered in the House and Senate Budget Committees, Americans are getting a better picture of what those plans entail. The Democrats’ budget proposals reveal that they do NOT intend to live up to their previous statements to avoid raising taxes, to reform entitlements, and to inhibit the growth of spending.

The Washington Post reports today that “House Democrats want to use a parliamentary maneuver to push a $70 billion tax increase through a reluctant Senate . . . .” Once again, it appears Democrats in the House want to raise taxes to “pay for” a one-year fix to the alternative minimum tax, although those are revenues no one expects to be collected. The new development this year is that house Democrats are apparently interested in using the reconciliation process to pass their $70 billion tax increase, which can bypass filibusters in the Senate. The Senate rejected a similar AMT proposal in December.

The Post noted Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) saying that a tax increase in conjunction with an AMT fix is “not the will of the United States Senate.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell welcomed this acknowledgement and called for passing an AMT fix sooner rather than later, considering that “[l]ast year, a Democrat-led standoff over passing an AMT patch threatened to delay tax returns for 50 million taxpayers totaling about $75 billion in refunds.”

While House Democrats contemplate a tax hike, according to Politico, they’ve decided to shelve plans to address FISA for the remainder of the week. Saturday will mark three weeks since the Protect America Act (PAA) expired, meaning our intelligence community has been operating with diminished intelligence gathering capabilities for almost 21 days now. Recall that Democrats in the House were pushing for a 21-day extension of the PAA before it expired. That extension would have expired this week with Democrats still failing to act. The House Democrat leadership’s failure to pass this critical legislation continues to put Americans at greater risk. They should pass the Senate’s bipartisan FISA bill immediately.

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