The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Symbolism huh?

    By bdtex on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 9:27pm |

    So it appears that Senate Dems are set to hold symbolic votes on START,DADT,extension of unemployment benefits and extension of middle class only tax cuts,knowing GOPs will block them and intending to make the GOP pay a political price at some point. After the symbolic votes Senate Dems will cave into Republican demands and get little or nothing for it in exchange. I've got news for them about who is gonna pay a bigger political price. These are fights worth fighting.

    Comments

    Question: since the bush tax cuts were passed by reconciliation, why couldn't a tax extension for under-a-quarter-millionaires be done through reconciliation?


    by we are stardust on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 10:10pm

    If it was deficit neutral it could be. We already know that they're not deficit neutral if extended unless they're offset by spending cuts.


    by bdtex on Tue, 11/30/2010 - 12:37am

    I think you got that backwards. We could make them deficit neutral by "offsetting" them with spending increases.

    I suppose it depends on how you look at it. If you compare the new bill with the status quo of having all tax cuts, then the bill that eliminates the tax cuts on the highest income levels would help with the deficit. However, if you're comparing it with what would happen if the tax cuts elapsed, then we have the situation you're describing.


    by Atheist (not verified) on Tue, 11/30/2010 - 1:01pm

    I don't think so.


    by bdtex on Tue, 11/30/2010 - 6:47pm