We’ve seen the first pre-emptive cave-in on the Republican side in the entire Obama administration:
The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, said on Sunday that he was prepared to vote in favor of legislation that would let the Bush-era tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans if Democrats insisted on continuing the lower rates only for families earning less than $250,000 a year.
It’s actually a kind of double cave-in, in that Boehner is actually pledging to vote for Obama’s bill to strip tax cuts from the rich. It’s a definite deviation from the Party of No Strategy, but it doesn’t end the debate. With several Democratic senators indicating that they don’t want to raise taxes on anybody in the current economic environment, we could still face a problem preventing an amendment from passing that keeps the tax cuts for people making more than a quarter of a million dollars a year. We could also have a problem overcoming a filibuster of a bill that doesn’t extend those tax cuts for the wealthy. Boehner seems to be hoping that his new strategy causes internecine fighting on the left.
At least five Senate Democrats have already voiced public support for continuing the lower tax breaks at all income levels, at least temporarily. That suggests that Democrats could come up short of the 60 votes that they would need to overcome procedural obstacles for a bill that would allow the cuts to expire for the wealthy.
Mr. Boehner, in the interview, said he agreed with those Democrats and suggested he was content to let them fight the Democratic leadership and the White House.
In other words, the Republicans want to avoid giving the impression that they are holding up tax cuts for 97% of the people just to preserve $100,000/year tax breaks for millionaires, and they’re hoping a few Democrats will help out the rich on their own.
Of course, this strategy only works if the Senate Republicans actually allow a vote. That means, they’d have to prevail on an amendment prior to cloture, or those tax cuts for the rich are going away.
Nevertheless, this strategy eases pressure on the Democrats because they know they can pass what the president wants if they just hold together. This is the reverse of the situation we’ve faced most of the last two years, where the Republicans have known they could defeat or water down legislation the president wants simply by holding together.
If the Democrats fail to do so and buck the president, they’ll have a hard time blaming the Republicans for it. Because, as I said, this strategy of avoiding the appearance of hijacking 97% of the people’s tax cuts won’t work if they actually hijack them with a filibuster. So, assuming that a filibuster can be overcome, the Dems will prevail on the substance unless they choose not to.
It was nice to see Boehner essentially blink when faced with President Obama drawing a line in the sand on tax relief for the middle class rather than for the richest 2%. Keep in mind, however, that Boehner has already walked this comment back, issuing a statement suggesting that he was returning to the Republican position, which is that all Americans will only get a tax cut of approximately $6,000 on average if the richest 2% of Americans are given an extra $103,000 on average per year.
In addition, Boehner also said in the article that we want to extend the elimination of the estate tax, which would benefit the richest 0.3% of Americans.
So, let’s keep in mind that when it comes to taxes, Boehner is no friend of the middle class.
Either way you slice it, Orange Julius caved. Walking it back now is weak suntan lotion. His Face the Nation quote should doom him.
Orange Julius – love it.
Check this out:
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_DE_912806.pdf
Christine O’Donnell: 47
Mike Castle: 44
I’ll believe it when I see it. Whatever Boehner says now, he’s perfectly capable of changing his position if wants, and it’s not like he’d feel any remorse, or that his fellow GOPers or GOP voters will visit any consequences on him.
SteveM begs to differ: BOEHNER DIDN’T REALLY BLINK
He [Boehner] also knows that three Democrats plus Lieberman in the Senate want to extend all the tax cuts, as does Mitch McConnell. So he’s responding to a hypothetical he thinks won’t come to pass — he thinks Republicans and Judas Democrats can stop the White House plan. It’s still odd that he feels he has to play good cop, but it’s only because he think bad cops are going to take it from here.
This would not have happened if Boehner was assured of re-election. He has been able to go hard right without the anxiety of having serious opposition. Now he has serious opposition so like the Blue Dogs he now has to be looking over his shoulder. This is why Boehner had to take the cave. Thank Justin Coussoule for the fact that Boehner is having to be more complex in his strategy.
As for the way BooMan describes this as playing out on the Senate side, I think this analysis is on target. Now, let’s see if Harry Reid can get some party unity for a change and defeat this move. I don’t think any of the Democrats up for re-election (except maybe Blanche Lincoln who is toast already) have advocated tax cuts for the rich. But Lieberman (Lieberman for Lieberman – CT) is likely to be a prick about this.