First a timeline on passage:
Introduced: Oct 30, 2007
Scheduled for Debate: Nov 2, 2007
Passed House: Nov 9, 2007
Passed Senate: Dec 6, 2007
Signed by President: Dec 26, 2007
Take a careful look at this. This legislation was introduced and passed in the House - which is majority controlled by the Democrats - in just 11 days. Including the Thanksgiving holiday, it took less than three weeks to clear the Senate in which the balance of power is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Yet it took Republican President G.W. Bush more than three weeks to sign it.
Why would it take Bush more time to sign a bill than it took to pass either the House or the Senate? Two different versions of the bill in the House and Senate, both controlled by different majorities.
In those 11 days it took to pass in the Democratically controlled House, how were our Illinois Representatives voting? Oh, that's right, Roskam (IL-06) voted against it. That was after he voted to adjorn, voted against agreeing to vote on the resolution, voted against ordering the question for a vote, voted for motion to instruct conferees - all slowing passage of the HR-3996: the Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007. Republicans Kirk, Weller, Biggert, Hastert, Johnson, Manzullo, LaHood and Shimkus also voted against the bill. Mellisa Bean, naturally, was the only Democrat in Illinois voting against this.
What was the hold up in the Senate, where Republicans and conservatives control enough votes to block most legislation from ever seeing a vote? For example, on December 6th, the bill failed a cloture motion, preventing an "up or down" vote on its passage. The vote against cloture was straight party line, with 47 Republicans voting against voting on this bill - not voting on passage - but voting against cloture essentially preventing a vote on the legislation, and delaying its eventual passage later in the day.
So now we've got two bills, one from the House and one from the Senate passed. What's the big difference? Why the delay? Oh, ya, the tax and spend Republicans:
Democrats want to offset the cost of the patch, which would shield millions of Americans from becoming eligible for the higher tax. However, Republicans are balking at the idea and in the Senate they have enough support to block such a plan.
Even the Herald gets this (emphasis mine):
What caused the delay in this latest freeze, which extended protection from the AMT to up to 20 million families, many with incomes of between $75,000 and $200,000? Political philosophy, little of which is shared by those impacted.
The Democrats wanted to assure that revenue lost from AMT relief would be balanced by equal cuts or new tax revenue from elsewhere, preferably from friends of Republicans. The Republicans and President Bush argued that the AMT wasn't meant to affect millions and shouldn't be fixed by increased taxes elsewhere.
Who are these "friends of Republicans" anyway? Oh, yes, those patriot tax cheats:
The AMT bill, which was approved 226 to 193, pays for the $50 billion tax fix largely by preventing hedge fund managers from deferring compensation by shifting their pay to offshore tax shelters. The White House issued a fresh veto threat, reiterating Bush's opposition to any tax increases to pay for an AMT fix.
That's right boys and girls, better to charge a tax cut for the well off to our grandchildren rather than not allow hedge fund managers to shift their pay to offshore tax shelters to avoid income taxes. Republican patriotism at its best!
To summarize:
The mess in "Congress" was created by Democrats passing legislation to fix the AMT that Republicans opposed because they didn't want their hedge fund manager friends to pay for the cut by losing their ability to avoid paying their income tax by shifting their pay to offshore tax shelters.
Republicans have the votes in the Senate to tie up any bill and prevent its passage. Along with this, Republicans also have the backing of a Republican president who threatened to veto any bill that hurt their hedge fund manager friends by making them pay their fair share of income taxes.
Given this, Republicans were able to force a "fix" to the AMT legislation that charges the tax cut to our grandchildren and creates even more American debt for the Chinese to own us with.
Even shorter summary:
Democrats pass legislation protecting the middle class, then protect our grandchildren by paying for the tax cut the legislation provides. Republicans block the legislation, protecting their wealthy hedge fund managing friends' right to off-shore tax shelter loop-holes.
Ya, that mess sure was the fault of "Congress."
UPDATE: Corrected a bunch of typos... |
