Today in Washington, D.C. - Dec 6, 2010 - Reid, Pull Your Head Out and Replace It With Your Agenda!

The Senate will reconvene at 2 PM. No votes are scheduled today. On Tuesday, the Senate will convene at 10 AM with a live quorum call to begin impeachment proceedings against Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr.

Saturday, the Senate held two cloture votes on Democrat tax proposals. Both plans to raise taxes failed to get 60 votes. The first amendment, offered by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), which would have raised taxes on those making over $250,000 per year, failed by a vote of 53-36. The second, offered by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), would have raised taxes on those making over $1 million per year and failed by a vote of 53-37.

Also on Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated his continued arrogance against the American people and announced his plans to file cloture on moving to a 9/11 responders health bill (H.R. 847), a bill allowing more firefighters to unionize (S. 3991), the latest version of the DREAM Act (S. 3992), and a bill for a one-time $250 payment to senior citizens (S. 3985).  Reid needs to stop thinking that promoting one time payments to seniors is going to lower their anger.  Cut the spending, stop raising taxes, and stop messing around with senior's health care.  In Summary, Harry Reid, pull your head out and replace it with your agenda!

There’s quite a bit of Democrat angst this week following the defeat of two proposals from Senate Democrats to raise taxes on some Americans over the weekend.

Politico wrote yesterday, “The deal that Democrats, Republicans and the White House appear to be stepping gingerly but inexorably toward to wrap up the lame-duck congressional session is generating some grumbling from Democrats that they won’t be particularly pleased with the likely outcome. ‘We’re only moving there against my judgment and my own particular view of things,’ Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation.’ . . . While Democrats sounded grudging in their support for such a compromise, GOP senators sounded more upbeat about the direction of the debate. ‘I think it’s pretty clear now taxes are not going up on anybody in the middle of this recession,’ [Senate Republican Leader Mitch] McConnell said on NBC’s ‘Meet The Press.’ ‘We’re discussing how long we should maintain current tax rates.’”

Politico also points out, “In short, Republicans seemed more sanguine Sunday about the direction of the debate and the negotiations than did Democrats. . . . McConnell also signaled that he believed Republicans had won the argument on tax policy. . . . ‘Look, this argument is over, David,’ McConnell said to ‘Meet The Press’ host David Gregory. ‘You and I can continue to engage in it, but it’s over. The Senate voted yesterday. Every Republican and five Democrats said, “We’re not raising taxes on anybody in the middle of a recession.”’”

Articles over the weekend illustrated the harsh truth Democrats who are eager to raise taxes are facing. The New York Times wrote, “The rejection of [Sen. Chuck Schumer’s tax] proposal underscored a harsh defeat for Democrats in both the policy debate and on the political messaging front.” The Washington Post wrote, “The Senate on Saturday rejected two Democratic proposals…a symbolic but bitter defeat that now forces the Democratic majority to compromise with Republicans.” The Christian Science Monitor observed, “Specifically, two Saturday votes in the Senate did not go well for Democrats.” Reuters noted, “No Republicans backed the Democratic proposals, and a few Democrats voted against them.” The Wall Street Journal wrote, “Republicans unanimously opposed both votes, and some Democratic lawmakers joined with them by voting against the majority.” The AP reported, “Obama has signaled that he will bow to Republican demands for extending tax cuts at all income levels.” And the Los Angeles Times added, “Throughout the week, Democrats appeared to hold the weaker hand as emboldened Republicans demanded a permanent across-the-board extension of tax cuts . . . .”

And apparently, none of this is sitting well with Democrats. Politico observed, “McConnell’s triumphalism seemed to rankle Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). Appearing on the same program, he complained that Republicans seemed to be heading toward a deal that involved no sacrifice on their part. ‘All he talked about was the need to come to them. All he talked about was if they could do something that makes us comfortable. That’s not how you compromise,’ Kerry said.” This morning, liberal Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) vented over Twitter, “Memo to our President : Why are we always punting on 3rd down? Let’s get our offense on the field.” And Politico further noted, “Liberal bloggers, columnists and commentators are convinced that the GOP has gotten the upper hand, in part because of a lack of fortitude on Obama’s part.”

It’s unfortunate that so many Democrats appear so committed to raising taxes and so upset at an emerging bipartisan consensus that no American should face a tax hike in the middle of a recession. As Sen. McConnell told NBC’s David Gregory yesterday, “I and my members feel that [the] American people feel strongly that taxes shouldn’t go up. I know our colleagues on the other side don’t see it that way. But look, all of the Republicans in the Senate and a significant number of Democrats feel the same way. It isn’t going to happen.” “In other words,” Sen. McConnell explained, “there bipartisan opposition to raising taxes on anybody at this time.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) expressed it well in his comments when addressing the coming Christmas holiday: "Even the good tidings of the holiday season do not appear enough to keep lame-duck Democrats from being downright grumpy over Republicans’ efforts to stop a job-killing tax hike on small businesses before it can take effect on January 1st. While Democrats fume over bipartisan rejection of their job-killing tax hike, Republicans remain focused on keeping our pledge to America to cut spending and permanently stop all the tax hikes. To get our economy back to creating jobs, we need to cut spending and stop all the tax hikes. The clock may be winding down on Democrats’ hold on power in both houses of Congress, but there’s still time to do the right thing for families and family-owned small businesses, and, of course, to bring comfort and joy."

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