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.

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

Dems Kick Off New Year With Tougher Stance

Sahil Kapur | January 18, 2012, 6:23PM

Nancy Pelosi

For Democrats, the new year has brought a new, tougher negotiating posture -- buoyed by their payroll tax cut victory last month, tired of the politics of kowtowing to Republican demands and eager to draw a clear contrast between the values of the two parties.

Instead of starting off by compromising to narrow the divide with Republicans on how to fund the payroll tax package beyond February, Democratic leaders are beginning 2012 by staking out a firm stance on their left flank: fund a full-year extension of the tax cut, unemployment benefits and Medicare "doc fix" with a millionaire surtax and war savings -- two offsets they know won't go over well with Republicans.

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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."

Read more »

Payroll Tax Cut

Dems Warn GOP: Don't Strangle Recovery By Screwing With Payroll Tax

Brian Beutler | January 6, 2012, 12:24PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Top Democrats pulled a little stunt Friday morning, when they tried to upend the House's pro forma session to confer about and debate the payroll tax cut.

But in their remarks to the press afterward, they parlayed today's positive jobs figures into a serious political warning to the GOP: Don't threaten the recovery by playing games with the economy. In essence, today's positive economic news raised the stakes of the payroll tax cut fight -- if Republicans can't get their act together and the tax cut lapses, it will muffle the recovery just as it's finally starting to turn economist's heads.

Read more »