Politics
Obama slams GOP: Blames Republicans for upcoming tax increase
U.S.President., Barack Obama. /AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain
The House of Representatives Tuesday rejected legislation to extend a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months, drawing a swift rebuke from President Barack Obama that Republicans were threatening higher taxes on 160 million American workers on January 1 2012.
“The clock is ticking, time is running out,” Obama said shortly after the House voted 229-193 to request negotiations with the Senate on renewing the payroll tax cuts for a year.
House Speaker John Boehner, told that Obama had sought his help, replied, “I need the president to help out.” His voice rose as he said it, and his words were cheered by dozens of Republican lawmakers who have pushed him and the rest of the leadership to pursue a more confrontational strategy with Democrats and the White House in an already contentious year of divided government.
This time, it wasn’t a partial government shutdown or even an unprecedented Treasury default that was at stake, but the prospect that payroll taxes would rise on January 1 for 160 million workers and long-term unemployment benefits end for millions of jobless victims of the worst recession since the 1930s.
Yet another deadline has been entangled in the dispute, this one affecting seniors, but the administration announced it had finessed a way around it. Officials said paperwork for doctors who treat elderly patients covered by the government’s Medicare program in the early days of the new year will not be processed until January 18, giving lawmakers more time to avert a 27 percent cut in fees threatened for January 1.
Whatever the stakes, there was little indication that House Republicans would get their wish for negotiations with the Senate any time soon. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement saying he would be happy to resume talks on a yearlong measure, “but not before” the House ratifies the two-month bill and sends it to Obama for his signature.
Given Obama’s remarks and Reid’s refusal to negotiate, it was unclear what leverage Republicans had in the year-end standoff. It appeared likely the partisan disagreement could easily persist past Christmas and into the last week of the year.
