Barack Obama

Has Obama Cornered Republicans On Contraception?

Sahil Kapur | February 13, 2012, 5:47AM

President Barack Obama and Senior Adviser David Axelrod

Republicans are doubling down in their assault on President Obama's birth control requirement, insisting that his accommodation of religious nonprofits does not address religious concerns. But by attempting to keep the heat on Obama, the GOP might be diving head-first into a culture war over contraception that social conservatives lost long ago in the minds of the public.

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said the House will push to repeal the rule entirely, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Republicans will force a vote on legislation permitting any employer to deny birth control coverage in their health insurance plan by claiming a moral or religious objection. "This issue will not go away until the administration simply backs down," McConnell said Sunday on CBS' Face The Nation.

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Defense Spending

Bait And Switch: GOP Leaders Renege On Debt Limit Deal Defense Cuts

Brian Beutler | February 3, 2012, 5:57AM

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

Republican leaders in Congress have all but reneged on a key agreement they reached with the White House last summer rather than reconsider their unwavering stance against new tax revenue.

Relations between the Obama administration and the congressional GOP were already just about as bad as can be. But even so, this sets a precedent future Congresses and White Houses will remember when partisan mismatches force them to strike deals and govern.

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Birth Control

Boehner: Birth Control Mandate Is Unconstitutional

Sahil Kapur | February 2, 2012, 2:55PM

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.

As religious groups freak out over the Obama administration's contraception mandate, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) piled on by claiming that the policy is unconstitutional.

The mandate, authorized under the Affordable Care Act, holds that employer-provided health insurance plans must provide birth control to women without co-pays. Houses of worship are exempt, and religious nonprofits are allowed an additional year before they begin complying. But conservative religious organizations and their allies on Capitol Hill say that's not enough.

"I think this mandate violates our constitution," Boehner told reporters on Thursday. "I think it violates the right of these religious organizations. And I would hope that the administration would back up and take another look."

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Gabrielle Giffords

Giffords Resigns From Congress: 'I Will Recover And Will Return' (VIDEO)

David Taintor | January 25, 2012, 11:42AM

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords submits her resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords bid farewell to the House of Representatives Wednesday morning receiving an emotional standing ovation from her colleagues.

The Arizona congresswoman submitted her resignation to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) just over a year after a horrific shooting in Tucson that left six people dead and Giffords critically wounded. Since that time, Giffords has made incredible progress, but she is resigning to continue focusing on her recovery. The House met Wednesday morning to take up Giffords final piece of legislation, designed to give stiffer sentences to smugglers who use small, ultralight aircraft to bring drugs into the U.S. from Mexico.

House leaders paid tribute to Giffords' public service ahead of her resignation. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Giffords is "the brightest start this Congress has ever seen," adding that Giffords will be missed.

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State Of The Union

State Of The Union: Obama's Point-By-Point Romney Refutation

Brian Beutler | January 24, 2012, 10:55PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama's State of the Union address was premised on two political bets: that there's a broad national appetite, spanning conservative and liberal ideologies, for certain populist reforms; and that Republicans in Congress are too deeply committed to opposing his agenda to back those reforms along side him.

His speech was peppered with the sorts of proposals that play well across the country. But after executing a three year plan of partisan opposition to his full agenda, Republicans can't possibly support them -- and that puts them on the steep side of an election Obama is framing while Republican presidential hopefuls tear each other down.

It was also sharp-elbowed. It read in a way as a series of critiques of the GOP's most prominent rhetorical attacks on Democratic priorities, and as a piecemeal rebuttal of the talking points his most likely general election opponent Mitt Romney has levied against him in a bid to shore up support among Republican base voters.

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Keystone XL

How Republicans Killed Their Own Pet Oil Pipeline Project

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2012, 5:30AM

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

At the peak of December's payroll tax cut showdown on Capitol Hill, two top Republican aides discussed with me the pros and cons of making the Keystone XL pipeline a centerpiece of the debate.

They relished the idea of forcing President Obama to take a public stand on the pipeline early in an election year, instead of after the election as he had wanted. And they were eager to force him to choose between supporters in the labor movement, some of whom are pushing for the pipeline, and others in the environmental movement who vehemently oppose it. So they decided to go for it.

At the same time they knew he'd likely have to reject the project, and for them that created a dilemma.

"It's a question of whether we'd rather have the pipeline or the issue," said one of the GOP aides. Black or white.

In the end they chose the issue.

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House Republicans

'Our Members Are United': House GOP Brushes Off Tax Cut Defeat

Sahil Kapur | January 18, 2012, 11:55AM

John Boehner

House Republicans began 2012 by shaking off their defeat in last month's payroll tax cut standoff, conceding that the timing of their rebellion was less than ideal but insisting they're united for job creation and against President Obama in the new year.

"We've got a lot of disparate voices in our conference. The President wanted the payroll tax cut extended for a year, and so do we. We didn't think the Senate would leave, but it was pretty clear the Senate wasn't coming back," House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters Wednesday. "We were picking the right fight. But I would argue, we probably picked this at the wrong time."

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Recess appointments

Republicans Press House GOP Leaders To Pick Public Fight Over Obama Recess Appointments

Brian Beutler | January 11, 2012, 1:00PM

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

This post was updated at 1:21 p.m. to reflect comment from House GOP Leadership.

President Obama's recess appointment of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray could create another internal headache for Republican leaders in the House, many of whose members want to pick a public fight with Democrats over the controversy.

Scores of House Republicans have signed on to a non-binding resolution disapproving of Obama's four winter recess appointments -- Cordray, and three members of the National Labor Relations Board -- all fodder for conservatives, who are furious about the existence of these agencies, let alone the recess appointments themselves.

"It's astounding to me that the president is claiming these are recess appointments and within his authority, when Congress was not in fact in recess," said Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) who authored the resolution. "These appointments are an affront to the Constitution. No matter how you look at this, it doesn't pass the smell test. I hope the House considers my resolution as soon as we return to Washington so we can send a message to President Obama."

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Barack Obama

GOP Furious As Obama Recess Appoints Cordray

Brian Beutler | January 4, 2012, 11:23AM

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.

No surprise here. Top Republicans are ripping President Obama's decision to recess appoint his top consumer watchdog, Richard Cordray.

"Although the Senate is not in recess, President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people by 'recess' appointing Richard Cordray as director of the new CFPB," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an official statement. "This recess appointment represents a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer. Breaking from this precedent lands this appointee in uncertain legal territory, threatens the confirmation process and fundamentally endangers the Congress's role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch."

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John Boehner

What Boehner Faces In 2012 After Payroll Tax Debacle

Brian Beutler | December 29, 2011, 5:52AM

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.

In the immediate aftermath of the GOP's payroll tax debacle, a handful of conservative House Republicans publicly attacked their leaders -- particularly Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

"I am disappointed that our Republican leadership in both the House and Senate chose a course of political expediency rather than standing on conservative principle," said Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) in an official statement.

Others appealed to Fox News, where conservatives and Republicans feel more comfortable expounding on party/movement contretemps.

"He's (Boehner) got a big problem when he comes back," one anonymous congressman claimed. "He may have a hard time keeping his Speakership after this."

"We were hung out to dry by our leadership," said another unnamed member.

The list goes on. But the holidays calmed the backlash, and with a week's hindsight a consensus of sorts has emerged among party strategists, aides (current and former) and congressional scholars. Not all agree on the question of how well or poorly Boehner handled the situation. But though Boehner's 2012 won't be easy, those House conservatives who were seeing blood last week are likely to be disappointed again.

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Government Shutdown

The GOP's Year Of Living Dangerously: What Did Its Hardline Strategy Produce?

Brian Beutler | December 28, 2011, 5:33AM

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

When the House GOP's enormous freshman class arrived on Capitol Hill in January, it wasn't uncommon to hear them sound off on the mistakes their predecessors made in 1995. Despite having shut down the government -- twice! -- House Republicans under Newt Gingrich had caved too easily, didn't push hard enough, didn't embody the true spirit of conservatism.

But the new House leadership wasn't so sanguine. Many had lived through the Gingrich revolution and its aftermath. Others had been around long enough to hear tales of it. And so they mapped out a strategy specifically designed to avoid what they believe were the party's '90s-era mistakes.

In other words, the two factions -- the newly energized backbenchers and the veteran leadership -- were pulling each other in opposite directions. The tug of war left the House GOP's strategic center of gravity stuck in an unstable position. The party was committed to fighting as hard as possible, but stopping short of its most conservative members' slash and burn instincts.

The 2011 version of the House GOP, in not always easy coordination with Senate Republicans, would approve must-pass bills, but only after dragging negotiations down to the wire and extracting as many concessions as possible from Senate Dems and the White House each time. We saw that strategy play out over and over again this year, with mixed results for both parties and largely poor results for the country at large.

Here's a quick lookback at a year of living dangerously -- and the series of recurring crises that it produced.

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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.

Payroll Tax Cut

Boehner Takes Strong Hand With House GOP After Payroll Tax Meltdown

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 6:05PM

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

In a conference call with House Republicans early Thursday evening, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) took no questions after making it clear to his members that the game was up and they would have to swallow the Democratic payroll tax extension.

Boehner laid out the agreement he forged to temporarily renew the payroll tax holiday -- one his members will hate -- and said the goal is to pass the new bill by unanimous consent on Friday morning. That means if even a single recalcitrant Republican objects to his plan, the chaos will drag on for several days.

At a press conference with reporters just after the call, Boehner admitted he has no assurances that the unanimous consent request will fly -- but in a sign that he's finally laying down the law with his unruly members, he vowed to force them to take an up-or-down vote on the issue next week if they cause any trouble.

Asked if all his members would muffle their grievances and allow the bill to move ahead, Boehner admitted, "I don't know that but our goal is to do this by unanimous consent."

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Payroll Tax Cut

Boehner Announces Deal To Swallow Senate Payroll Tax Conference

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 5:29PM

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)

House Speaker John Boehner made it official moments ago in a written statement. After blowing up an agreement to prevent this year's payroll tax cut from lapsing on January 1, House Republicans will adopt legislation nearly identical to the stopgap bill the Senate passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis this past Saturday.

"Senator Reid and I have reached an agreement that will ensure taxes do not increase for working families on January 1 while ensuring that a complex new reporting burden is not unintentionally imposed on small business job creators," Boehner says. "Under the terms of our agreement, a new bill will be approved by the House that reflects the bipartisan agreement in the Senate along with new language that allows job creators to process and withhold payroll taxation under the same accounting structure that is currently in place. The Senate will join the House in immediately appointing conferees, with instructions to reach agreement in the weeks ahead on a full-year payroll tax extension. We will ask the House and Senate to approve this agreement by unanimous consent before Christmas. I thank our Members - particularly those who have remained here in the Capitol with the holidays approaching - for their efforts to enact a full-year extension of the payroll tax cut for working families."

The Senate's payroll bill included a provision to prorate the payroll tax cap. Payroll taxes only apply to the first $110,000 of income, after which the rate falls to zero. To adjust for that, the Senate bill created a new cap at just over $18,000, to reflect the two month-length of the payroll cut. The technical correction in the new bill will leave the existing $110,000 cap in place.

Boehner will discuss the deal in a 5:30 Capitol press conference.

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.

John Boehner

Boehner Spox: Not Biting On The Senate Bill -- Yet

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 11:39AM

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.

In response to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who on Thursday urged House Republicans to pass a temporary payroll tax cut extension, Speaker John Boehner's office says they're not ready to go there.

"The House and Senate have two different bills, but the same goal," says Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith. "That is why we believe, as Senator McConnell suggested, the two chambers should work to reconcile the two bills so that we can provide a full year of payroll tax relief - and do it before year's end."

There's room here for House Republicans to follow McConnell's advice, but not right away. If Reid appoints Democratic senators to negotiate a full-year payroll tax cut, and Boehner responds by passing the Senate's two-month compromise, he has no assurance that the year-long deal will be reached by December 31. It could easily drag out until February.

So Boehner's not biting yet.

Payroll Tax Cut

McConnell To House GOP On Payroll Tax: It's Over

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 11:05AM

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.

As gently as he could, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) just called on House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to cave and pass the Senate's payroll tax cut compromise.

But make no mistake: McConnell has essentially pulled the rug out from under his counterparts in the House as the political price Republicans are paying for reneging on the deal struck with Democrats has steepened dramatically.

Read the full statement below, but the key is here:

"Leader Reid should appoint conferees on the long-term bill and the House should pass an extension that locks in the thousands of Keystone XL pipeline jobs, prevents any disruption in the payroll tax holiday or other expiring provisions, and allows Congress to work on a solution for the longer extensions."

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Payroll Tax Cut

Payroll Tax Backlash Follows GOP Home To Districts

Brian Beutler | December 22, 2011, 5:52AM

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)

Everyone knows House Republicans endured tremendous punishment all day Wednesday, making it clear to most observers that in the standoff over renewing this year's payroll tax cut, they'll have to blink.

But an even more important story, which escaped notice inside the Beltway, is that the lashings followed GOP members of Congress back to their states and districts.

Here's a roundup.

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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

Watch GOPer Literally Walk Out On Dem Attempt To Push Payroll Tax Cut

Brian Beutler | December 21, 2011, 11:14AM

Steny Hoyer speaks at press conference with House Ways and Means Committee Democrats. November 30, 2011.

While Republican leaders gathered in Speaker John Boehner's Capitol office Wednesday morning for a photo op with reporters -- hectoring Democrats and making the case that they're on the right side of the payroll tax fight -- an unusual scene played out on the House floor.

In an attempt to illustrate just who's at fault for the payroll tax stalemate Minority Whip Steny Hoyer showed up to ask for a vote on the Senate's compromise bill. Republicans could have simply objected and given Hoyer his talking point. Instead they gave him so much more.

Republicans just ignored Hoyer and refused to hear his unanimous consent request. The fill-in Speaker simply walked away.

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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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FAA

Dems Pick Apart Key GOP Argument Against Passing Senate Payroll Tax Cut Bill

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 6:16PM

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

One argument House Republican leaders -- including Speaker John Boehner -- are making about their refusal to adopt the Senate's payroll tax cut compromise is a throwback to old times. They note that "regular order" in Congress is for the House and Senate each to pass legislation and to then convene a conference committee where members from each chamber meet to iron out the differences between the bills.

That's "regular order" in a traditional sense, but it's not even close to how this Congress has operated in practice. Case in point: both the House and Senate have passed legislation to reauthorize federal aviation programs on a semi-permanent basis. One key area of disagreement between the parties is a provision in the House bill that would make it much more difficult for rail and airline workers to unionize -- just the sort of provision that could be the focal point of negotiations in a conference committee.

But House Republicans won't let that happen, and have pushed a series of temporary reauthorizations instead.

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Payroll Tax Cut

GOP Goes To War With Itself Over Payroll Cut

Brian Beutler | December 19, 2011, 5:30PM

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.

A civil war between House Republicans and their Senate counterparts had gone public over the possibility that the GOP will be held to blame if the current payroll tax cut expires on January 1. The Senators feel abandoned after having voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to pass a two month extension of the holiday -- only to have conservatives in the House GOP conference reject it publicly, and insult the legislation itself.

GOP Leaders on both sides of the Capitol are trying to contain the fallout, but with vulnerable Senate Republicans exposed, and the payroll tax cut set to lapse in less than two weeks, that's a tall order.

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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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Barack Obama

More Backlash For Wyden Than For Ryan On Controversial Medicare Plan

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 3:35PM

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

Sen. Ron Wyden wants to assure his colleagues he hasn't undermined them politically. In a head-turning move, Wyden announced Wednesday that he's teamed up with House GOP budget chair Paul Ryan on a policy framework to partially privatize Medicare -- a move that stunned his fellow Democrats.

Setting aside the policy -- which would in essence turn Medicare into ObamaCare with a robust public option -- the very existence of the plan has deep implications for the 2012 elections, most of them bad for his own party.

Speaking to reporters Thursday after an event with Ryan, Wyden said the political ramifications are overblown.

"Nobody ducks their past votes and their previous statements," Wyden said. "That's just a given."

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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

Pelosi To GOP On Funding The Government: You're On Your Own

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 11:31AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warns her GOP counterparts that they'll have to pass legislation to fund the government on their own, unless they quit playing hardball, return to negotiations and meet Democrats halfway on a number of key issues.

"I hope they have the votes for it," Pelosi told reporters at her weekly Captiol briefing, "because if they don't they won't be getting any cooperation from us."

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Payroll Tax Cut

GOP Pushes Dems To Accept Medicare Cuts For Current Retirees

Brian Beutler | December 14, 2011, 3:35PM

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.

Senate Democrats are under pressure to adopt the payroll tax cut bill House Republicans passed last night -- or something very close to it. President Obama has threatened to veto it, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has declared it dead on arrival in his chamber.

But as explained here and here the issue has now become tied up with funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year. If appropriations legislation doesn't pass by Friday night, the government will shut down. And even if Congress manages to avoid that mishap, the current payroll tax cut -- along with extended unemployment benefits and a patch to prevent Medicare doctors from experiencing a big pay cut -- all expire on January 1. Hamstrung by the GOP's filibuster powers, Dems can't pass an alternative version without GOP help, and so the heat is on them to cave.

Despite all that, here's one reason Democrats might hold firm:

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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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