John Boehner is hurting the country with his dangerous rhetoric.
The Senate has passed a bill that stops taxes from going up for 98 percent of American families, and asks those who can afford it to pay a little more. If the House follows suit, President Obama is ready to sign it as soon as it hits his desk.
If they fail to do so, a typical middle-class family of four will see their taxes go up by $2,000 in just a few short weeks.
President Obama is asking Congress to do the right thing and act before the New Year, but he needs our help. We’ve got a good track record here: When we make our voices heard and urge Congress to take action — whether it’s about health care, student loans, Wall Street reform, or “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — they listen.
What does $2,000 mean to you? Share your story here.
Let the BUSH TAX CUTS EXPIRE, DECEMBER 31, 2012!
E-mail: Speaker.Gov.Contact:
Office of the Speaker
H-232 The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-0600
Fax: (202) 225-5117
If you are a resident of Ohio’s 8th District, your comments can be submitted via the Congressional Office website, which you can access by clicking here.
Please note: scheduling requests should be faxed to (202) 225-2012. Scheduling requests submitted online will not be responded to.
Boehner offers $4.6 trillion counter-proposal
Posted by Lori Montgomery on December 3, 2012 at 3:06 pm
House Republican leaders on Monday endorsed a far-reaching plan to rein in the national debt that that would raise $800 billion in new tax revenue, slice $600 billion from federal health programs and apply a stingier measure of inflation to Social Security benefits.
In a letter to President Obama, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other senior Republicans suggested that the framework – first laid out by Democrat Erskine Bowles during last year’s budget battles – should serve as a starting point for budget talks aimed at averting the year-end fiscal cliff.
Read the whole story. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2012/12/03/694dbc1e-3d84-11e2-a2d9-822f58ac9fd5_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2012/12/03/boehner-offers-4-6-trillion-counter-proposal/?wpisrc=al_comboPNE_p
White House: GOP Fiscal Cliff Offer ‘Sticks The Middle Class With The Bill’
SAHIL KAPUR 4:53 PM EST, MONDAY DECEMBER 3, 2012
White House top spokesman Dan Pfeiffer responded late Monday afternoon to the GOP’s counter-offer on the fiscal cliff. He said in a statement:
“The Republican letter released today does not meet the test of balance. In fact, it actually promises to lower rates for the wealthy and sticks the middle class with the bill. Their plan includes nothing new and provides no details on which deductions they would eliminate, which loopholes they will close or which Medicare savings they would achieve. Independent analysts who have looked at plans like this one have concluded that middle class taxes will have to go up to pay for lower rates for millionaires and billionaires. While the President is willing to compromise to get a significant, balanced deal and believes that compromise is readily available to Congress, he is not willing to compromise on the principles of fairness and balance that include asking the wealthiest to pay higher rates. President Obama believes – and the American people agree – that the economy works best when it is grown from the middle out, not from the top down. Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won’t be able to achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit our nation needs.”
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/white-house-gop-fiscal-cliff-offer-sticks-middle
Discharge Petition: Nancy Pelosi Closes off GOP’s Escape Route
Monday, December 03, 2012 | Posted by Deaniac83 at 6:26 AM
So on Friday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi threw down the gauntlet on putting Republicans on the record on the middle class tax breaks, one way or another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rFHf57gO4ko
READ THE REST HERE: http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/12/this-sucks-for-republicans.html
December 03, 2012
A fittingly titled GOP plan–“Doomsday”
Republican lawmakers tell ABC’s Jonathan Karl that a “doomsday plan is becoming the most likely scenario”:
House Republicans would allow a vote [a Democratic vote; Republicans will only vote “present”] on extending the Bush middle class tax cuts … and offer the President nothing more: no extension of the debt ceiling, nothing on unemployment, nothing on closing loopholes. Congress would recess for the holidays and the president would face a big battle early in the year over the debt ceiling.
Next time, it’ll be 14th Amendment-invocation time, by presidential decree: “The validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.”
One helluva chaotic mess, no doubt. Yet it’s one helluva chaotic mess that would have been avoided, had President Obama forced the issue in 2011 (as I then recommended, to peals of scorn from more than a few readers). Permitting gangland government to prevail even once was not merely unwise at the time, it was a gilded invitation to the gangsters to ruthlessly extort us again and again.
Well, what’s done is done and the president, it certainly seems, has learned his lesson. House Republicans are not what I introduced them as in this post: lawmakers. They’re thugs. And one doesn’t so much as negotiate with thugs as have it out with them–all the way, to the bloody end.
http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/
Why sane bargaining looks strange
By E.J. Dionne Jr.,
Dec 03, 2012 12:40 AM EST
The Washington Post
An entirely new political narrative is taking shape before our eyes, yet many in Washington are still stuck in the old one.
President Obama’s victory blew up the framework created by the 2010 elections, which forced him to play defense. Now, he finally has room to move. That’s the only way to understand the ongoing budget talks.
SNIP
Third, House Republicans have, so far, been unwilling to assume any risk to get what they claim to want. They seem to hope a deal will be born by way of immaculate conception, with Obama taking ownership of all the hard stuff while they innocently look on.
Obama went that route in 2011 when he feared that Republicans would bring down the nation’s economic house by failing to pass an increase in the debt ceiling. This time, he doesn’t face that risk.
SNIP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-why-sane-bargaining-looks-strange/2012/12/02/ae7c0928-3b48-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions