Payroll Tax Cut

Dems: GOP Bet On Bad Economy Creating Payroll Tax Cut Gridlock

Brian Beutler | February 7, 2012, 4:03PM

Democrats are emboldened enough by their political turn of fortune that party leaders are laying payroll tax cut contretemps at the feet of Republicans rooting for further economic strife.

"[W]e've seen improvement: The unemployment rate's going down; people are getting back to work; there's a more confident air in America," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) told reporters Tuesday at a leadership briefing with reporters on Capitol Hill. "Let's make no mistake: There's some Republicans that don't think that really works with their strategy of defeating President Obama. These are some of the same voices that are opposing any bipartisan agreement to extend the payroll tax cuts."

Other top Democrats say the same.

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FAA

Are Senate Dems About To Cave On GOP Union-Busting?

Brian Beutler | February 6, 2012, 5:20AM

Image from Pushkin/ Shutterstock

Senate Democrats and organized labor have reached a make or break moment over House-passed legislation that will make it harder for transportation workers to unionize.

One labor official said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) had "sold out" workers, by striking a deal with Republicans on a long-term reauthorization of Federal Aviation Administration programs -- and they have a brief window in which to set things right.

The issue goes back months.

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Taxes

Senate Democrats Plan To Put Republicans On The Wrong Side Of The Middle Class

Brian Beutler | January 25, 2012, 3:11PM

Senate Democrats are preparing an aggressive legislative agenda to complement the vision President Obama outlined in his State of the Union Address. The goal is to test the idea that the public supports an agenda of aggressive federal action on behalf of the middle class, and that Republicans are locked in a pattern of reactionary opposition, even to popular policies.

The push is premised on the notion that the country has turned the corner on the fights over deficits and the size of government, and that keeping issues of equity and opportunity for the middle class at the center of the national debate will redound to Democrats' political benefit, either by breaking the GOP or by putting them on the wrong side of public opinion.

But in an extremely consequential election year, when consensus becomes an endangered species on Capitol Hill, it will take a groundswell of political pressure to force either party to work with the other on a substantive agenda. So expect the Dems to hawk these issues relentlessly.

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Affordable Care Act

How To Easily End The 'Doc Fix' Problem -- And Why House GOP Is Opposed

Sahil Kapur | January 16, 2012, 5:32AM

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) And House GOP Doctors Caucus

One of the items Congress extended for two months in the December payroll tax package is current Medicare payment rates to physicians, averting a steep 27.4 percent cut. Although a yearlong "doc fix" is seen as likeliest when lawmakers return to town this week and begin negotiating pay-fors, even that would merely be punting an issue in need of a permanent fix.

Over the last few months there's been serious talk in Congress of buying out the "doc fix" issue once and for all with war savings from troop withdrawals in Iraq and Afghanistan, estimated at over half a trillion dollars.

The idea has been championed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and multiple other key senators including John Kerry (D-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Tom Harkin (D-IA).

But even though this plan could remove for free the $300-billion-and-growing albatross from the nation's neck, it faces fierce resistance from House Republicans. In fact, some of the vocal opponents are doctors in the caucus, whom Leadership tends to give the first bite at the apple on health issues.

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Harry Reid

House And Senate Lock In New, Higher-Stakes Fight Over The Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 23, 2011, 10:06AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

The end of the payroll tax cut standoff couldn't have been more different from the heat of it: quick, noiseless, drama free.

Without a single objection, the House and Senate passed a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut -- a bill that very closely mirrored the compromise House Republicans had roundly rejected just one week ago. There wasn't even a recorded vote.

It would be a huge mistake, though, to treat Friday's smooth sailing as a harbinger of the payroll tax fight to come.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems Serve Up Ironic Tick Tock Of Events Leading To Payroll Tax Victory

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 6:28PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

A senior Democratic aide offers this tongue in cheek tick tock on the House GOP's payroll tax cut surrender.

· On Sunday, Senator Reid called on Speaker Boehner to pass the Senate's bipartisan compromise.

· Senator Reid waited for Speaker Boehner to agree to pass the Senate's bipartisan compromise.

· Today, Speaker Boehner's staff contacted Senator Reid's staff, and agreed to pass the Senate's bipartisan compromise.

Funny. Also basically true. The tick tock on the other side of the Capitol was much more dramatic.

Barack Obama

BREAKING: House Republicans Cave, Agree To Two-Month Payroll Tax Cut Extension

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 3:51PM

John Boehner

A top Senate Democratic aide says House Republicans have privately offered up the terms of their surrender on the payroll tax cut, pending sign off from their notoriously unwieldy caucus.

As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) suggested Thursday morning, it will involve House Republicans passing a temporary extension of the payroll tax cut (and unemployment insurance and reimbursement rates for Medicare physicians) in exchange for Senate Dems agreeing to a formal conference committee to work out a year-long extension of all items.

The temporary extension won't be identical to the one Senate Dems passed. It will differ in very minor technical ways. House Republicans have already rejected the bipartisan Senate compromise bill, so they'll have to draw up essentially the same bill from scratch, pass it in the House and then have the Senate readopt it by unanimous consent.

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Payroll Tax Cut

It's Unanimous: All Stakeholders Say It's Time For House GOP To Cave On Payroll Tax

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 1:42PM

President Barack Obama

If there's one thing that House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, political strategists of both parties and the White House all agree on, it's that House Republicans need to cave in and end the payroll tax stand off.

Speaking at the White House Thursday, President Obama gave a sloppy wet kiss to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion that House Republicans fold, with only the thinnest of covers. Essentially, all of the principals involved, except House Republicans, now agree that House Republicans should do what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) proposed all along -- pass the Senate's stopgap bill to extend the payroll tax cut (and other expiring provisions) for two months with the promise that Democrats will work with Republicans on a year-long agreement.

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Harry Reid

Reid To Boehner: McConnell's Right -- You Should Fold

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 12:20PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says John Boehner should grab the life-line Mitch McConnell just tossed him.

"I agree with Senator McConnell and the many other Republicans who have spoken up in recent days that the most reasonable path forward is for the House of Representatives to pass the Senate's bipartisan agreement immediately, to make sure that middle-class families do not wake up to a tax increase on January 1st," Reid said in an official statement. "Once the House passes the Senate's bipartisan compromise to hold middle class families harmless while we work out our differences, I will be happy to restart the negotiating process to forge a year-long extension.... Now, it is important that we now hear from Speaker Boehner in light of Senator McConnell's comments."

Boehner and GOP payroll tax negotiators are meeting as of this writing to mull McConnell's proposal -- we should know what they decide very soon.

Payroll Tax Cut

Dems Redouble Efforts To Break House GOP Will On Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 21, 2011, 1:48PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

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."

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Payroll Tax Cut

How The Payroll Tax Fight Descended Into Chaos

Brian Beutler | December 21, 2011, 5:45AM

John Boehner

The fight over renewing the payroll tax cut into next year has escalated into a multi-front political war, both between Republicans and Democrats, and within the Republican party itself.

But lost in the gamesmanship and the arguments about process, hypocrisy, and leadership are the issues at stake.

So let's review.

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Scott Brown

GOP Fractures Further Over Payroll Tax Mess

Brian Beutler | December 20, 2011, 3:23PM

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

House GOP aides basically admitted this to reporters yesterday, but it bears repeating. The reason they fashioned a Rube Goldberg-esque procedural device to kill the Senate payroll tax cut compromise is that they know they're now in political free fall on the issue. By doing things the way they did, at least vulnerable House Republicans can say that they didn't vote against a tax cut for the middle class.

This was probably the only way House GOP leaders were ever going to get the minority of their caucus on board with the vote. And if you want proof, look no further than the handful of Republicans who defected from their leadership Tuesday. Or, better yet, vulnerable Senate Republicans who are in cycle in 2012.

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Payroll Tax Cut

In Gamed Vote, GOP 'Rejects' Senate Payroll Tax Cut Compromise

Brian Beutler | December 20, 2011, 1:03PM

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)

Thanks to a complicated manipulation of House rules, Republicans Tuesday rejected a broadly bipartisan Senate stopgap plan to extend the current payroll tax cut and other key provisions for two months.

The final vote was 229 - 193. In effect, those voting "yes" were voting to nix the Senate bill and to instead move ahead with House-Senate negotiations to pass a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut, emergency unemployment benefits, and Medicare physician payments, all of which are set to expire on January 1.

After staging a dramatic rebellion from GOP leadership, and putting the payroll tax cut at real risk of expiring, House Republicans are now taking an enormous leap of political faith. By nixing the broadly bipartisan Senate plan, they're hoping to force Senate Democrats' hand and bring them back to Washington to negotiate a 12-month extension of the payroll tax cut, in the final days of the year.

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John Boehner

House GOP Coalesces Around Plan To Reject Bipartisan Payroll Tax Compromise

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 9:29PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Houser Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

After a much-longer-than-anticipated caucus meeting Monday night, House Republican leaders announced a plan to vote Tuesday to nix a broadly bipartisan Senate stopgap bill to extend the current payroll tax cut for two months. But they won't be doing this with a standard up or down vote.

The development comes after House conservatives launched a full scale rebellion against a Senate bill negotiated by Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that passed with an overwhelming 89 votes.

However House Republicans are aware of the political peril that will come with killing a bipartisan plan to extend the payroll tax cut, and they know they'll likely be held responsible if the tax holiday expires. So they're structuring the votes in a manner that's designed to give their members cover from that charge and, perhaps, preserves their right to reconsider the Senate bill in the coming days.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Standoff: A Guide To The Ongoing Fight Over The Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 1:25PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama

At a Capitol press conference Monday morning, House Speaker John Boehner told reporters he expects his members will kill the bipartisan, Senate-passed, two-month payroll tax cut bill. Instead he said Republicans will insist that Senate Democrats return to Washington and hash out the differences between that package, and the partisan one-year bill the House GOP passed a week ago.

That's setting up a new round in the ongoing fight over how to prevent that tax cut -- and other expiring policies like emergency unemployment benefits, and reimbursement rates for Medicare physicians -- from expiring.

Where we go from here depends on Boehner making good on his threat. To that end House and Senate Democrats, along with key Senate Republicans -- who voted for the compromise measure, and whom Boehner is hanging out to dry -- are pressing the House GOP to follow through on the deal.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems To Boehner: Take It Or Leave It

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 10:26AM

Democratic senators and their aides say House Speaker John Boehner must allow a bipartisan, two-month extension to the payroll tax cut to pass before they'll return to Washington to negotiate an extension through the rest of the year.

On MSNBC Monday morning, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the third ranking Dem in the Senate, left Boehner an unkind choice.

"Speaker Boehner has two choices and there are only two," Schumer said. "The first is to pass the bill, the bipartisan bill, that the Senate passed 89-10 -- vast majority of Republicans, lot of tea party guys voted for it. The second is the middle class tax cut will lapse and he will be responsible."

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John Boehner

Boehner Faces Key Test After GOP Mutiny Over Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 6:01AM

House Speaker John Boehner with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the foreground.

Long, long ago - well, on Friday night to be exact - it looked like a two month extension of the expiring payroll tax cut was on a glide path to passage in both the House and Senate -- preventing an automatic tax increase on 160 million workers on January 1 and giving Republicans and Democrats until the end of February to negotiate an extension through the end of 2012.

But as soon as the deal was announced, House GOP aides privately speculated that the deal wouldn't fly with the majority of their caucus despite buy in from Speaker John Boehner, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, all of his deputies and the vast majority of Senate Republicans.

Sure enough, they were right. The deal collapsed in spectacular fashion early Saturday. After passing the Senate with an overwhelming majority, Boehner presented the deal to his members, many of whom -- including Boehner's top lieutenants -- rejected it. Sunday morning, he appeared on NBC to declare it dead on arrival.

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Payroll Tax Cut

McConnell Demands Keystone XL In Any Payroll Tax Agreement

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 1:12PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) conducts a news conference along with fellow GOP members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2011.

This post was updated at 1:30 p.m.

It's gut check time for Congressional Democrats on the payroll tax cut bill.

Regarding that legislation, Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emails me with the following statement: "The Leader will not support any bill without the Keystone XL language as part of the agreement."

House Speaker John Boehner is also insisting that he'll amend any Senate-passed payroll tax cut bill to add the Keystone provision to it, if it's not already in there. So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama now have a choice: stick to their guns and object to the provision -- at the risk of allowing the payroll tax cut (and unemployment insurance and the Medicare "doc fix") to expire? Or give in to the GOP.

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Payroll Tax Cut

How The Payroll Tax Deal Is Likely To Play Out

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 11:41AM

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press during his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

With a government shutdown averted, the final item on the Congressional agenda before the year's out is to finalize legislation to renew the payroll tax, extend unemployment benefits, and temporarily fix the Medicare payment formula so that doctors don't take a huge pay cut on the first of the year.

Senate Dem and GOP leaders say they're nearing agreement on such a package, which will be offset with budget cuts and savings, but not with a surtax on millionaires, which Dems finally, officially dropped Thursday night.

So here's the plan now: Later today, the House will pass legislation to fund the government, averting a shutdown. House members will leave town for the weekend while the Senate hammers out its final compromise -- which barring a snag, could pass this weekend with little fuss.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems, Republicans Negotiate On Two Tracks To Avoid A Government Shutdown

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 1:37PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Democratic and Republican sources say that a two track process will likely resolve the current standoff on Capitol Hill -- the key questions now are about timing and choreography.

House Republican and Senate Democratic appropriators are close to a deal to avert a government shutdown and fund federal programs through the end of September.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Boehner Outlines Path Forward In Government Shutdown Fight

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 12:21PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama

At his weekly Capitol briefing, House Speaker John Boehner outlined a way around the current impasse in Congress that will result in a government shutdown if it's not resolved by Friday night. And it could alleviate Dem fears that Republicans are trying to jam them with partisan legislation that would renew the payroll tax cut and extend unemployment benefits, but with a significant number of poison pills thrown in.

"There's an easy way to untangle all of this," Boehner said in introductory remarks. "First I think Democrats should join Republicans and sign the conference report [on appropriations legislation] to fund our government. House and Senate appropriators have done their jobs. There's an agreement on a bill that would keep the government open. They've worked out all the details and shook hands, and the bill's done. It's bipartisan, it's bicameral, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate are both ready to vote on this."

Here's part two:

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Government Shutdown

House GOP Pushes The Envelope In Shutdown, Payroll Tax Fight

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 10:40AM

John Boehner

Late Wednesday night -- in the early hours of Thursday morning, really -- House Republicans decided to go all in on the latest government shutdown fight.

Testing the limits of compliance with their own rule that legislation be posted online for three days before a final vote, GOP leaders, over White House objections, unveiled major appropriations legislation that must pass by Friday at the stroke of midnight if Congress is to avoid a government shutdown.

The move raises one key question for each party. Can Republicans pass these appropriations on their own, if Democrats stick to their guns and withhold their votes. And, if the GOP succeeds, will Senate Democrats and President Obama hold their ground and block the legislation until a key policy issues are addressed, and the parties reach agreement on the separate issue of how to extend the current payroll tax cut into next year.

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Government Shutdown

Reid, McConnell Trade Tactics On Senate Floor Over Looming Government Shutdown

Brian Beutler | December 14, 2011, 11:49AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

We're at that point again. The one where Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell try to prove they're not precipitating a government shutdown.

On the Senate floor Wednesday morning, each leader pulled a couple confusing procedural levers designed to prove the other is acting in bad faith.

To recap, last night the House passed partisan legislation to renew the expiring payroll tax holiday, replete with payfors and add-ons that led all but 10 Democrats to reject it. Democrats in the Senate don't want Republicans to leave town for the holidays and jam them with that bill so they're playing a bit of hardball. They've raised objections to a number of riders and provisions in separate legislation to fund the government, which will shutdown Friday night if appropriations aren't passed. If Republicans skip town, they're shutting down the government. And Reid is using this leverage to force Republicans to deal on Democrats' terms on both bills.

So what happened this morning?

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Payroll Tax Cut

House GOP Passes Payroll Tax Cut Bill Obama Has Threatened To Veto

Brian Beutler | December 13, 2011, 6:53PM

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

Despite loud warnings from Senate Democrats and a veto threat from President Obama because of poison pills within the text, House Republicans Tuesday passed legislation to renew a 2 percent payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits of one more year.

The bill passed 234 - 193, with 10 Democrats joining with the Republicans and 14 Republicans pitching in with the Dems.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems To GOP: Deal Fairly On Payroll Tax Or Shut Down The Government

Brian Beutler | December 13, 2011, 1:05PM

Senate Democrats and the White House are executing a strategy to prevent House Republicans from jamming them with legislation to extend the current payroll tax cut that's been larded up with GOP goodies, according to White House and Congressional aides. For all practical purposes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has linked the payroll tax issue -- and other key end-of-the-year issues -- with legislation to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. And he's presenting Republicans with a choice: deal in good faith on the payroll tax issue, or trigger a government shutdown.

Democrats were worried that House Republicans would close ranks around a version of a payroll holiday that included both must-pass items (such as an extension of unemployment insurance and a patch to prevent Medicare physicians from experiencing a severe pay cut on the first of the year) and GOP poison pills (including a provision forcing the Obama administration to give thumbs-up or thumbs-down to the Keystone XL oil pipeline within 60 days)...then pass it and skip town, leaving Democrats little choice but to swallow their bill whole.

That's exactly the strategy they tried to execute -- and until late Monday it looked like it might work.

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Payroll Tax Cut

GOP's Keystone Pipeline Gambit Distracts From Other Measures

Brian Beutler | December 9, 2011, 1:28PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama

In a bid to consolidate support within their caucus -- and to flip the bird to President Obama -- House Republicans have tacked a provision on to their payroll tax cut bill that would force the administration to decide whether to allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, instead of after the election next year as the administration currently plans.

Though controversial outside of Washington, the pipeline has bipartisan support in Washington, and Republicans -- itching for this fight -- are banking on the idea that some Democrats will cross the aisle and put Senate Dems and Obama in a tough spot.

And to some extent they've been successful. Obama strongly suggested he'd veto the bill over the provision, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called it dead on arrival, and many in the media have painted the GOP's bill as providing Dems a choice between passing the payroll tax cut and blocking the Keystone pipeline.

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Payroll Tax Cut

GOP Filibusters Dem Compromise Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 8, 2011, 3:22PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) talks with a reporters in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2011.

Another pair of dueling bills failed in the Senate Thursday as Democrats keep up the pressure on Republicans to break ranks and support a payroll tax cut for workers paid for largely by imposing a modest surtax on income over $1 million.

Though most GOP senators oppose extending and deepening the current payroll tax cut, set to expire January 1, 2012, enough of them back the idea that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell paired the Democrats' bill with competing legislation that proposes paying for the tax holiday by shrinking the federal workforce by 10 percent, freezing federal pay, and means-test federal support programs, including Medicare, for wealthy Americans. Before the votes the Obama administration issued official policy statements announcing support for the Dem bill, and opposition to the GOP's.

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Harry Reid

GOP Sets Up Showdown With Dems, White House Over Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 8, 2011, 11:24AM

John Boehner

House Republicans have narrowed their internal differences and plan to move ahead next week with legislation to renew the current payroll tax cut, extend unemployment benefits, and prevent Medicare physicians from experiencing an automatic pay cut.

But they've chosen to pay for elements of this bill with a hodgepodge of measures and reforms that will make it a non-starter in the Senate -- including one provision that has drawn a veto threat from the White House. That puts Democrats and Republicans on a collision course over policies that leaders of both parties agree must pass -- with only three weeks before they all automatically expire, and one week until members had hoped to adjourn for the holidays.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Democrats' Big Payroll Tax Cut Gamble

Brian Beutler | December 8, 2011, 5:45AM

If this year's payroll tax cut is extended -- and possibly expanded -- for another year, it will prevent the economy from taking a significant hit at a time when demand is weak and unemployment remains unacceptably high.

That's the good news.

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Barack Obama

Senate Dems To Boehner: Don't Even Think About Jamming Us On Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 7, 2011, 2:08PM

Senate Democrats are winning the political fight over the payroll tax cut. But Republicans still control the House and that gives them plenty of agency. Some reports suggest they might pass partisan legislation to extend the payroll tax cut, loaded full of GOP goodies, and then adjourn for the holidays, leaving Democrats holding the ball. (They've tried this before.)

Democratic leaders are fully aware of this and say they're not fazed. They're warning House Republicans not convince themselves they can get away with it.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems Drop Details Of Payroll Tax Cut While GOP Signals Early Opposition

Brian Beutler | December 5, 2011, 1:04PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Democratic sources confirm that Harry Reid will try to win GOP support for a new payroll tax holiday by shrinking the size of the overall cut, and offering Republicans a few concessions that they've been pushing for both publicly and behind the scenes.

But their proposal will be partially paid for by a small, temporary income surtax on millionaires, and that will be a tough sell with Republicans, according to a top Republican aide, as the GOP overwhelmingly opposes raising taxes on high-income earners.

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Barack Obama

Hill Democrats Pleased With Daley's Diminished Role

Brian Beutler | November 8, 2011, 1:10PM

Congressional Democrats weren't surprised Tuesday to learn, in a story first reported by the Wall Street Journal, that White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley had handed a big chunk of his portfolio over to senior adviser -- and former acting Chief of Staff -- Pete Rouse. Indeed, they've been living under the new regime for several weeks, and according to one highly placed Senate Democratic aide the improvement has been self evident.

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Jobs

Senate Dems Face Major Challenge On Key Part Of Obama Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | November 1, 2011, 5:55AM

Senate Democrats will continue to force Republicans to filibuster popular pieces of President Obama's jobs bill in the days weeks ahead -- to bolster their narrative that Republicans would rather see the economy fail than help Obama, or raise taxes by even a fraction of a percent on millionaires and billionaires.

But sometime between now and the end of the year, Dems will either have to interrupt their strategy or risk watching as two key provisions that helped bolster the economy this year lapse, and threaten what's already expected to be modest economic growth in 2012.

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John Boehner

Boehner Dismisses Democratic Super Committee Proposal As Unserious

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2011, 1:15PM

House Speaker John Boehner with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the foreground.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) acknowledged that the 12 member deficit Super Committee is having a hard time reaching consensus, and dismissed as unserious a Democratic proposal that would have reduced the deficit by nearly $3 trillion, split fairly evenly between cuts to entitlement and other federal programs, and new taxes.

"I'm not surprised that, you know, we're having some difficulty," Boehner told reporters at a Thursday Capitol briefing. "Because this isn't easy. It's going to be very hard. But I do think it's time for everyone to get serious about this."

Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have taken a more active role in the negotiations to hasten progress, according to reports, and Boehner seemed to confirm that.

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Democrats

Senate Dems To Force Another Vote On Jobs Plan

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2011, 1:42PM

Senate Democrats will continue their push to pass pieces of President Obama's jobs bill by forcing another test vote, in just over a week, on legislation to fund key infrastructure projects, and to seed an infrastructure bank, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced Friday.

The legislation would provide $50 billion worth of direct investment to transportation and other infrastructure projects, and create a federal infrastructure bank, with authority to loan money to states and private companies to build out public-use infrastructure.

The kicker is that it will be paid for with a 0.7 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year. That's a slight tick higher than the minuscule surtax Democrats proposed to pay for legislation to hire teachers and emergency first responders that Republicans filibustered late Thursday night.

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Jobs

Senate 'Comity' Breaks Down Over Duelling Jobs Bill Votes

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2011, 11:36AM

Did another Senate tradition come to an end this week?

Not exactly. But something very rare did happen and Democrats are using it as a cautionary tale, to warn Republicans not to get too brazen.

Thursday night, Democrats filibustered a Republican-backed provision of President Obama's jobs bill, because the GOP proposed to pay for it by slashing $30 billion worth of funds for federal programs. Republicans forced the vote to build a counter-narrative that Democrats don't want to work with them on jobs legislation, even bits of Obama's own plan.

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Harry Reid

Republicans Find One Piece Of Obama's Jobs Bill They Like

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2011, 5:52PM

Senate jousting over President Obama's jobs bill will continue late Thursday or early Friday.

The leaders of both parties have each teed up test votes on separate provisions from the bill, for opposite political reasons. For Democrats, the relentless push for votes on pieces of the bill is meant to build a narrative voters understand: Dems support legislation that will create jobs; Republicans don't. Dems support paying for jobs bills with tiny tax increases on millionaires; Republicans support those millionaires.

But two can play at that game.

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Jobs

Reid Tees Up Key Test Vote On Teacher, Firefighter Jobs Bill

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2011, 3:49PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will tee up a Friday test vote on a piece of President Obama's jobs bill that would provide states money to retain or rehire teachers and emergency first responders.

"We are going to make sure there is a vote on our bill this week," Reid told a crowd of fire fighters and teachers at a rally on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

The $35 billion legislation would be paid for with a 0.5 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year -- a tiny new marginal bump that Republicans unanimously oppose. Some analyses suggest the legislation would save or create 400,000 jobs.

"The Republicans who work in the Senate suit up every day and come down and play their game in the Senate by following the lead of their leader -- and that is, whatever they do, to make sure they do everything they can to make Barack Obama [lose]," Reid said.

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Harry Reid

Reid To GOP On Jobs: POTUS Bus Tour Seems To Be Working

Susan Crabtree | October 19, 2011, 1:04PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is reminding Republicans attacking President Obama for traveling around the country promoting his jobs plan that the bus tour seems to be working -- polls show most Americans support the plan to get Americans back to work.

Ahead of Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Capitol Hill later Wednesday afternoon, Reid touted poll number after poll number showing strong bipartisan support for the entire jobs package -- and overwhelming support for the break-out component introduced in the Senate Monday aimed at putting 400,000 teachers, police officers and first-responders back to work.

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Jobs

Reid To GOP: Don't Try To Delay The Next Jobs Vote

Brian Beutler | October 17, 2011, 3:03PM

On a Monday conference call with reporters, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) officially announced that he'll move ahead with the first stand-alone piece of President Obama's jobs bill this week -- a $35 billion state aid measure to prevent layoffs of teachers and emergency fist responders. But he's prepared for Republicans to stand in the way.

"I'll bring this bill for a vote as soon as possible," Reid told reporters, noting that the entire cost will be offset with a small fraction of the millionaire surtax Dems proposed to pay for the entire Obama jobs bill.

"As soon as possible" could be a while, if Republicans want to gum things up. The current business on the Senate floor is a so-called "minibus" appropriations bill, to fund the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture and other departments that will run out of money in November. For procedural and Constitutional reasons, Reid can't force a vote on the teacher and firefighter aid plan as an amendment to this approps bill -- so he's planning to move directly to it after the minibus has cleared the Senate, ideally by weeks end.

"There is no reason we cannot finish the appropriations bills before the end of the week, and have a vote on this jobs bill," Reid said. "I am happy to keep the Senate in session as long as needed to make sure we get a vote on this jobs bill."

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