The House is on recess this week. The Senate reconvened today and began consideration of the nominations of James Cole to be Deputy Attorney General, Virginia Seitz to be Assistant Attorney General, and Lisa Monaco to be Assistant Attorney General. Not much concern as the Senate will also vote on these nominations today.
At 2:15, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 679, the nominations reform bill. Votes on amendments to the bill are possible this afternoon. There are 10 amendments pending to the bill. When all amendments to S. 679 are worked through, the Senate will vote on passage of the bill (60 votes will be required) and the Senate will move to S. Res. 116, the resolution streamlining Senate rules on nominations.
Don't you just love this Democrat led Senate. They want Senators to give up their Constitutional requirement to advise and consent, so they will have more time to --- to do what -- NOTHING! The Democrats have not followed the authorization and appropriations process for years and have relied on ramming through massive Continuing Resolutions and in forcing massive bills through which have not been either read or vetted by due process through committees. No sunshine has been allowed in the process and the American people were not permitted to read these prior massive spending bills until after they had became law.
With President Obama now personally engaged in talks about addressing this country’s massive debt and deficits in connection with the White House’s request to raise the debt ceiling, Democrats have doubled down on their insistence on tax hikes. The democrats are refusing to reduce the size of the bloated wasteful Federal government. They have fixated on following their "fearless leader" down the road to destroying our American economy.
As CNN Money put it in a headline this morning, “Debt ceiling talks turn to taxes - higher taxes!”
The AP noted last night, “[B]oth sides only seemed to harden their positions as the day wore on, the administration insisting on higher taxes as part of the package but Republican leaders flatly rejecting the idea.” Further, according to the AP, “The White House is pushing for some tax increases on the wealthy or the elimination of tax breaks for big companies and wealthy individuals as part of a deficit-cutting plan. During the Biden-led negotiations, Democrats proposed about $400 billion in additional tax revenue, including ending subsidies to oil and gas companies, an idea that has failed previously in the Senate.” And will be DOA in the House of Representatives.
Earlier today, both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senate Democrats’ message chief, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), came to the floor to "boohoo" that Republicans are standing in the way of the various tax increases they’re wish to imposing.
And last week, Democrats were explicit in their desire to raise taxes. Vice President Joe Biden admitted that “the pieces most important to us Democrats [are] revenue” while “[Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max] Baucus [D-MT] made clear that the talks frayed over Democrats' insistence that tax increases of some sort be part of the final deal,” according to Talking Points Memo.
Today, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell showed a determination to explain to President Obama that tax increases need to be taken off the table. “I will tell him the truth about requests by some in his party that we increase spending and raise taxes as a way of solving the debt and jobs crisis that precipitated the President’s request to raise the debt limit: Not only are they counterproductive from the standpoint of an economic recovery; they’re also politically impossible, since Republicans oppose tax hikes and Democrats have already shown they won’t raise taxes in a down economy. . . . Those who are calling for tax hikes as a part of these debt discussions either have amnesia about the fate of similar votes just six months ago — when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress as well as the White House — or they’re acting in bad faith, since we all know that including massive, job-killing tax hikes would be a poison pill. Let’s move past tax hikes, talk about what’s actually possible, and let’s talk about what has and hasn’t worked over the past two years.”
McConnell concluded, "[M]y message to the President is simple: It’s time for Washington to focus on fixing itself. It’s time Washington take the hit, not the taxpayers.”
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