| House Passes Proposal To Extend All Bush-Era Tax Cuts |
| Aug-01-2012 |
| Keywords: house, republicans, pass, bush, tax cuts |
The House tonight voted to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all income brackets.
In a 256-171 vote, that included 20 Democrats, the house overwhelming found support for the Republican backed proposal.
Conversely, the House, rejected, 170-257, the Senate-approved plan to extend the Bush-era tax rates for families making less than $250,000, while raising taxes on those making more.
The dueling votes highlighted a bitter partisan divide ahead of the elections, with each vote becoming fodder for competing campaign ads.
"This election is about jobs and the economy," said Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "The choice is clear. Either you want growth or you want more taxes."
Democrats however see the issue much differently.
If we don't ask folks at the very high end to pay a little bit more to contribute to (cutting) the deficit, it means everybody else gets whacked that much harder," Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen told CNN on Tuesday.
Unclear is where lawmakers, and the president, will go from here to try and avert at least some of the looming tax hikes set to go into effect in January when the Bush-era rates expire.
Obama is on the campaign trail, touting the Democrats' plan as the only responsible route for extending the Bush-era rates.
Technically, the House and Senate could take their opposing proposals to a conference committee after the vote. But for now, that is not likely, and the prevailing Washington wisdom is that lawmakers won't tackle the tax crisis in earnest until after the election -- and possibly until the next presidential term begins. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 2:00 PM Email to a friend |
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