Text 26096, 74 rader
Skriven 2007-01-07 14:22:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Grab your wallets
=========================
The Dems are going to serve up the Republicans all kinds of ammunition 
for the 2008 election.  We still see that the Dems have no Iraq plan 
other than cutting and running.  Harry can't make up his mind on more 
troops or less troops and Congress wants to direct the war from the 
Halls of Congress.  This is going to be quite a show.  And for those who 
have been asking where the Presidential veto pen has been, Bush has been 
resting it just for these times...  

========================================

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070106-115506-5182r.htm

House rules change clears way for tax increases
By Donald Lambro
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 7, 2007 


One of the first key procedural votes in the Democrat-controlled House 
last week established legislative rules that Republicans say will make 
it easier to raise taxes by a simple majority vote. 
    The straight party-line vote received little attention Thursday as 
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, was elected speaker of the 
House. But Republican leaders and conservative tax-cut advocates said it 
opened up a huge loophole in a Republican-imposed rule drawn from the 
Republicans' 1994 Contract with America, which requires a supermajority, 
or three-fifths vote, to raise taxes. 
    Democrats unanimously voted down a motion offered by Minority Leader 
John A. Boehner of Ohio that would have prevented them from waiving the 
rule, a move that tax-cutters said signaled the Democrats' intention to 
raise taxes between now and the 2008 elections. 
    "American taxpayers need to hold on to their wallets because the new 
House rules concerning taxes are not worth the paper they're written 
on," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). 
    "After spending an entire year on the campaign trail claiming she 
will not raise taxes, the first vote Nancy Pelosi brings to the floor 
for a vote as speaker will open the door to billions and billions of 
dollars of tax increases over the next two years," Mr. Norquist said. 
    Many liberal Democrats vowed in the midterm election campaigns to 
repeal the Bush tax cuts for those in the top income-tax brackets, and 
party leaders already have scheduled a vote to eliminate tax breaks for 
oil companies, which would effectively raise taxes on the nation's 
energy-producing corporations. 
    "The Democrats have a more established record of wanting to raise 
taxes than Republicans do. So to have them reject making the rule 
unwaivable indicates they want to preserve the option to raise taxes," 
said Jo Maney, spokeswoman for the Rules Committee, through which all 
legislation must pass. 
    "The Democrats were smart in crafting the new rules," said Dan 
Clifton, ATR's chief economist. "They did not change them but made 
additions to them. Now the three-fifths rule can be waived by a simple 
majority," or 218 votes. 
    "President Clinton got a bare majority 218 votes for his tax 
increases in 1993. So all the Democrats have to do is vote to waive the 
three-fifths rule, and they've got a tax increase," Mr. Clifton said. 
    Democratic officials saw Mr. Boehner's motion as a move to tie their 
hands on future tax policy, and the majority leadership effectively held 
all of its troops in line to oppose it, even though some of its members 
ran on pledges not to raise taxes. 
    "In the coming months, the Democrat-controlled Rules Committee will 
be pressured to repeal or waive the Contract with America's barriers 
against unfair tax increases to make it easier for the Democrat majority 
in Congress to raise taxes," Mr. Boehner predicted. 
    The Democrats also approved the so-called "pay-as-you-go" rule as 
part of the House rules package. The rule says that when taxes are cut, 
lawmakers must offset any revenue loss with either new or higher taxes 
elsewhere, or reductions in spending. 
    But the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said Friday that 
the pay-as-you-go rules "do not always work perfectly, and it may be 
useful to consider changes to improve the technical workings of [pay-as-
you-go] to make it more effective." 

--- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 10
 * Origin:  (1:226/600)