Posted by Ezra Klein
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Nevertheless, what Steel is saying is simply false: Nothing in the Democrats’ proposal “locks in” any particular resolution to the Bush tax cuts. It simply leaves that question for another day. An annoyed Democratic aide points out that by the Republicans’ logic, anything that doesn’t extend the Bush tax cuts right now — the trigger, a nuclear bomb being dropped on Washington, a zombie attack that sends Congress into recess, anything — would count as an $800 billion tax increase.
But to be more generous to Steel, the underlying reality of the situation suggests that Democrats will win that fight -- if they want to. If Congress does nothing, the Bush tax cuts expire. All of them. Whatever you think of the economic merits of letting the Bush tax cuts expire for everybody, it would make voters very angry. And if the reason the cuts expired was that Republicans refused to extend $3 trillion in cuts for the middle class without extending $800 billion in cuts for the rich, voters will be very angry at Republicans. So the Democrats are in the driver’s seat here.
Which brings us back to the supercommittee. Republicans are trying to use it to resolve the Bush tax cuts now so they’re not left defending tax cuts for the rich later. That’s what happened in this exchange: The Democrats made a counteroffer to Toomey that involved pretty much matching his numbers but deleting his extension of the Bush tax cuts. Republicans rejected that offer, and House Speaker Boehner’s spokesman e-mailed reporters to call it “a step backwards because it would lock in the largest tax hike in history.”
If all Republicans cared about was reducing the deficit, it wouldn’t make much sense to use a deficit-reduction task force to add $3.7 trillion in tax cuts to the deficit. But neither party cares solely about the deficit. Republicans, for instance, care about tax rates and politics. So it makes perfect sense for them to try to sneak the tax cuts into a deal that will be framed as a deficit-reducing compromise between the two parties. But ultimately, that’s making a deal harder to come by, as Democrats would prefer to leave the resolution of the Bush tax cuts till later.
Leaving it for another day is the best thing. Do nothing and the tax cuts expire (and Republicans know that). To quote
Steve Benen:
That’s just crazy. The Bush-era tax rates are due to expire at the end of next year; why in the world would Democrats give up their only leverage, in exchange for a few eliminated deductions?
Even more ridiculous:
House readies vote on Balanced Budget Amend.House Republicans don’t have time to address the jobs crisis, but they do have time for proposed constitutional amendments that would make the jobs crisis worse.
The lower chamber will vote today on a constitutional amendment to require balanced budgets — a proposal better known as
one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas — the first time lawmakers have considered the measure since 1995. To move on to the Senate, the amendment will need 290 votes today, translating to roughly every Republican and about 50 House Democrats.
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The Republicans are spinning desperately to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which would increase the debt. At the same time, they're working to pass a balanced budget amendment to address the deficit/debt they allowed to skyrocket under Bush. The only way they can achieve this is by pushing scams, knowing that they dread the defense cuts mandated by the
trigger.
The way I see it, Republicans are full of shit and find themselves between a rock and a hard place. The only thing they can do now is lie and pretend, same as always.
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