With Republicans so perilously on the ropes, Democrats aren’t relenting in their push to break House GOP leaders’ will, and force them to pass the Senate’s payroll tax cut compromise. Not in the White House, not in the House, not in the Senate.
On a conference call with reporters this morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — joined by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) — called on John Boehner to wave the white flag.
“This is the end of the road,” Schumer said. “The first thing that they have to do to show their good faith is pass the two-month extension…. I feel for Speaker Boehner because I know he didn’t choose this path. But they’re pretty far down a dead-end path.”
For the first time in recent memory, that’s the same thing the House GOP is hearing from House Dems and the Obama administration. President Obama called Boehner this morning and told him to pass the Senate’s payroll tax cut compromise “to ensure that middle class families aren’t hit with a tax hike in 10 days,” per a White House readout.
Reid echoed this sentiment in a letter to Boehner. “Once the House of Representatives acts on this immediate extension, we will be able to sit down and complete negotiations on a longer extension,” he wrote. “But because we have a responsibility to assure middle-class families that their taxes will not go up while we work out our differences, we must pass this immediate extension first.”
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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