Extend All The Current Tax Rates!

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
highlight bipartisan support for stopping tax hikes!

Today in Washington, D.C. - June 6, 2012:
The Senate reconvened today and resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3240, the farm bill. At 4 PM, the Senate will take up the nomination of Jeffrey J. Helmick to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio. At 5:30, the Senate will vote on the nomination.

Yesterday,Democrats failed to get 60 votes to take up their bill purporting to deal with “paycheck fairness,” which would have harmed employers and been a windfall for trial lawyers

Yesterday, the House addressed some technical corrections in passed bills and passed the following bills by voice vote:
HR 1740 — Amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a specified segment of the Illabot Creek in Washington as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
HR 2060 — Central Oregon Jobs and Water Security Act - amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to adjust the Crooked River boundary, to provide water certainty for the City of Prineville, Oregon, and for other purposes.
HR 2336 — York River Wild and Scenic River Study Act of 2011 - amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the York River and associated tributaries for study for potential inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
HR 241 — Authorization of the conveyance of National Forest System lands in California.
HR 2512& — Reclamation of the Three Kids Mine site in Nevada - provides for the conveyance of certain Federal land in Clark County, Nevada, for the environmental remediation and reclamation of the Three Kids Mine Project Site, and for other purposes.
HR 3263 — Lake Thunderbird Efficient Use Act of 2011 – authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to allow the storage and conveyance of nonproject water at the Norman project in Oklahoma, and for other purposes.
HR 4222 — Conveyance of certain federal owned lands in Arizona to the Pascua Yaqui tribe of Arizona and the Tuscan Unified School District.
HR 4282 — International Child Support Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 -amends part D of title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure that the United States can comply fully with the obligations of the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, and for other purposes.

Today, the House is expected to consider
H.R. 5325 — "Making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes."
H.R. 5855 — "Making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes."
And, to debate proposed instructions for conferees with the Senate for H.R. 4348 - Federal Highway bill.

The Hill reports this morning, “Using comments by former President Bill Clinton as a political gift, Republican leaders stepped up their calls for at least a one-year extension of the George W. Bush-era tax rates. One by one, senior congressional Republicans stepped before the cameras on Wednesday morning to trumpet Clinton’s momentary support for extending the full slate of current tax rates, in contrast to President Obama’s push to keep income rates in place only for the middle class. . . . Republicans jumped on the comments immediately and made Clinton’s remarks the focus of their morning press briefing. The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell (Ky.), made a rare walk across the Capitol to join House Republicans and echo their message. He noted that the economic growth rate is lower than it was in late 2010, when Obama agreed to a deal that extended the Bush tax rates, including those for the wealthy, for two years.”

Clinton told CNBC, “I think what it means is they will have to extend… have to put everything off until early next year. That’s probably the best thing to do right now… I don’t have any problem with extending all of it now.” The Wall Street Journal noted last night, “Former Democratic President Bill Clinton suggested Tuesday that Congress temporarily extend all the Bush-era tax cuts, undercutting President Barack Obama’s position that the rates on upper-income Americans should rise at year’s end. It was the second example in recent days of Mr. Clinton taking a position at odds with that of Mr. Obama . . . .”

But President Clinton isn’t alone among Democrats in making the case that we shouldn’t raise taxes at the end of the year. According to the WSJ, “Lawrence Summers [former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton and President Obama's former Director of the White House United States National Economic Council] said Wednesday that Congress should temporarily extend Bush-era tax cuts, making him the second person with ties to the White House who is undercutting President Barack Obama’s position that the rates on upper-income Americans should rise at year’s end. ‘The real risk to this economy is on the side of slow down…and that means we’ve got to make sure that we don’t take gasoline out of the tank at the end of this year,’ he said on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ program. ‘That’s gotta be the top priority.’”

The WSJ adds, “Mr. Summers’s comments will likely further complicate Mr. Obama’s efforts to ensure the tax cuts expire at year’s end… and his comments will likely carry more weight because of his economic credentials.” Of course, it’s worth recalling that Summers was once a top economic advisor to President Obama and before that was Treasury Secretary for President Clinton.

And yet according to a tweet from Reuters, Obama is still saying the tax hikes scheduled for New Years Day 2013 should go forward.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell  (KY) and appearance with House Speaker John Boehner  (R-OH) appeared and responded this morning. McConnell said, “The argument [President Obama] made in agreeing to [extend all current tax rates] two years ago was that the economy needed it. The growth rate now is actually slower than it was in December of [20]10. As the speaker indicated, coupling that with Bill Clinton’s remarks and then Larry Summers’ remarks, it’s pretty obvious that the economy needs the certainty of the extension of the current tax rates for at least a year.That would also give us the time to begin to grapple with something we all agree we need to do on a bipartisan basis, which is to reform the whole tax code.”

Speaker Boehner said, “You know, last week’s jobs report was certainly bad news for the American people.  And once again it shows that the president’s economic policies have failed. As a result, it’s really important that we provide some certainty to job creators in our country and extending all of the current tax rates for at least a year is really important if we’re going to help job creators gain a little more confidence and put Americans back to work. Even Bill Clinton came out for it – before he was against it.  And then, you know, Larry Summers, the president’s former economic advisor, this morning came out in favor of this. “We believe it’s time to extend all of the current tax rates because it really will provide certainty for American job creators.”

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Tags: Washington, D.C. Speaker John Boehner, Sen. Mitch McConnell, bill Clinton, Lawrence Summer, income tax rates To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!