Pelosi Threatens To Force A Vote On Bush Tax Cuts For Middle Class

[DonViejo]

By Aviva Shen posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Dec 1, 2012 at 8:30 am

With Republicans balking at the prospect of allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for the top 2 percent of Americans, Democrats are losing patience. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said Friday that the House GOP will not hold a vote on a middle-class tax bill that excludes the top income brackets, even though the Senate has already approved one. In response, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Friday that Democrats plan to bring the legislation to a floor vote next week no matter what. The Democrats plan to use a discharge petition, which can force a bill to the floor if it has been stuck in committee for 30 legislative days. In a new statement, Pelosi dared her Republican colleagues to reject the plan to extend tax cuts for 98 percent of the country:

The clock is ticking, the year is ending, it’s really important, with tax legislation, for it to happen now. We’re calling upon the Republican leadership in the House to bring this legislation to the floor next week. We believe that not doing that would be holding middle-income tax cuts hostage to tax cuts for the rich. Tax cuts for the rich which do not create jobs, just increase the deficit, heaping mountains of debt onto future generations.

And so, to that end, we are – we will be introducing, if the bill, if there is no announcement of scheduling of the middle income tax cut, which, by the way, has tremendous support in the Republican Caucus – I think we would get a 100 percent vote on it if it came to the floor. If it is not scheduled, then on Tuesday we will be introducing a discharge petition which you know with – if we get 218 signatures, would bring the bill automatically to the floor. That would mean that we need some Republicans who support middle income tax cuts, to sign on with us.

Watch it:

In order to make a discharge petition work, Pelosi needs 20 Republicans to sign on to the measure. Several Republican legislators, notably Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), have called for Republicans to accept President Obama’s deal on middle-class tax cuts.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/30/1267341/pelosi-force-vote/

[krawhitham]

1. can she get 218 signatures?

[Walk away]

3. If she can't but everyone who won't sign will be GUILTY of taking that extra money....

...out of our paychecks starting the first of the year. Let there be no mistake who cares about the middle class. Democrats can use that naughty list for years past this Christmas.

[Pab Sungenis]

4. If they don't

then we can hit every one of them that doesn't sign for voting to raise taxes on the middle class.

[Andy823]

5. I don't know

However she can force all the republicans to go on record with their vote, and if the vote against it, then they will have to face the people back home when they take off for Christmas break. It won't go over very well for those republicans that will be returning next year if they vote against helping 98% of the people in this country simply because the "richest" people in the the country won't get a tax break, something they don't really need in the first place, and something that has been hurting the deficit since Bush gave them the two tax breaks.

The old BS about the "job creators" is not going to work since we went through the worst recession in history while the 2% got those huge tax breaks, and we still haven't seen all those "jobs" they were supposed to be creating!

[former9thward]

6. No she can't.

There is only an on-the-record vote if she gets 218 signatures. If she doesn't there is no vote.

[Lionessa]

2. Good on Nancy, however, at this point

I really don't understand all this rangling. Just do nothing. Let them all expire, then in January do a middle class tax cut and dare repubs to vote against it. This is just a waste of energy doing it this way.