Posted on 02/06/2008 10:19:09 PM PST by george76
The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.
GOP senators banded together Wednesday to thwart the $205 billion plan, leaving Democrats with a difficult choice either to quickly accept a House bill they have said is inadequate or risk being blamed for delaying a measure designed as a swift shot in the arm for the lagging economy.
The tally was 58-41 to end debate on the Senate measure, just short of the 60 votes Democrats would have needed to scale procedural hurdles and move the bill to a final vote. In a suspenseful showdown vote that capped days of partisan infighting and procedural jockeying, eight Republicans — four of them up for re-election this year — joined Democrats to back the plan, bucking GOP leaders and President Bush, who objected to the costly add-ons.
Democrats choreographed the vote for maximum political advantage, presenting their aid proposal as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for Republicans and calling back their presidential candidates to make a show of party unity behind their stimulus plan.
They calculated that Republicans would pay a steep price for opposing rebates for older Americans and disabled veterans, as well as heating aid for the poor, unemployment benefits and a much larger collection of business tax breaks than the House approved.
(Excerpt) Read more at connpost.com ...
This is not going to set well with the voters. It's going to be played over and over in political ads chastising Republicans for keeping checks from the elderly, disabled vets, the unemployed and business owners. It's going to make them look bad.
If you only have $3000 minimum taxable income, you are not paying income tax. You are getting any tax you pay back with child rebates or something.
Same here. My FIT for 2007 is enough to cover $300 checks to 110 people who didn't even pay $300 in FIT.
I was going to protest my condition by not spending anything until I realized that all the "viable" candidates from last night's political festivities are bona fide gun grabbers. I'm going to have to stimulate the economy and put a few treasures away in my gun safe before they get banned. There's just that annoying problem of waiting for that 2nd contract to fund. I'm averse to spending money on guns that I might need to eat.
Down to $1000.00 huh? That’s going to put a crimp on my plans for an Ar-15 varmint-special.
I’m from CA and am happy to have several of my firearms that pre-date registration requirements.
I do the taxes for my two sons. The oldest has been working a minimum wage job. He earned $10,300 in 2007. He paid $110 in FIT, $64 in SIT. He will qualify for EITC and whatever welfare check this "stimulus" package distributes. That's a real world look at what is going on here.
They could just cut taxes and we’d get our money starting next paycheck. But that wouldn’t look like free money, would it.
If my son earned $10,300 and only paid $110 in FIT, how much FIT did someone earning $3,000 pay? If it's proportional, we're talking $30 in FIT to qualify for a $300 "rebate". It's WELFARE!
Aw shoot...leave it to the DimRATS...
It used to be a ‘chicken in every pot’ before the elections...now it’s ‘pot for every chicken....and the crop just failed’ ....and 8 inhaling Reps went along with them....dumb clucks.
I started acquiring my firearms collection in 1999 while living in San Diego. The AR-15 was banned by CA before I could save enough money to buy one. Moving to Idaho solved the problem. I opted for the Colt HBAR. That's as close to the standard military issue as I could purchase. I selected that model so my son could get some practice before doing his annual quals with the USMC. I prefer to shoot .223 through my Savage bolt guns and the T/C Encore. Both are capable of putting 10 though a single, fat hole at 100 yards. The Colt ends up with about a 1/2" group. Adequate for a semi-auto.
working is for suckas!
What disappoints me is that Bush cut a deal with the Housre, which must have included folks like Pelosi and Rangel, yet the Senate still can’t keep their grubby hands out of asking for more. If it was good enough for Pelosi, why isn’t it good enough for Senate Democrats?
I have 3 long guns that I bought before they asked for registration. But it was my understanding that later on they demanded registration of weapons bought before the registration was a requirement. They made it retroactive. I never registered nine, I refused to.
My question for you is are they still legal? I don't think so.
Regards
Romney believes in rebates and against cutting govt spending:
http://www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/Research_Briefing_1.20
No, I can’t make this stuff up if I tried. He really is a liberal.
Something ugly this way comes.
I think it's already here. Just look at what's running for Prez. No matter who wins, we still going to have a liberal.
Nice of Mccain to not even bother going to Washington to vote on the plan. I guess he was too busy crowing about how he won Arizona by a bigger margin than Romney won MA.
The bill also includes $10 billion in tax-free mortgage revenue bonds to help homeowners refinance subprime loans.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Here’s something the bill inclulded which the headline left out (heard about this on the radio today, they mentioned the elderly, veterans, the unemployed, but of course, the headline never tells the entire story, does it).
| SUMMARY OF U.S. TREASURY SECURITIES OUTSTANDING 31 DEC 07 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amounts outstanding | |||
| Public Holdings |
Intra- Governmental Holdings |
Totals $millions USD |
|
| Marketable: | |||
| Bills | 999,547 | 4,327 | 1,003,875 |
| Notes | 2,487,368 | 1,119 | 2,488,487 |
| Bonds | 558,447 | 91 | 558,538 |
| Inflation-Protected | 471,430 | 256 | 471,686 |
| Federal Financing Bank | 0 | 14,000 | 14,000 |
| Total Marketable | $4,516,792 | $19,793 | $4,536,585 |
| Non-marketable series: | |||
| Domestic | 29,995 | 0 | 29,995 |
| Foreign | 2,986 | 0 | 2,986 |
| R.E.A. | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| State and Local Government | 293,239 | 0 | 293,239 |
| Savings Bonds | 196,452 | 0 | 196,452 |
| Government Account | 91,189 | 4,073,077 | 4,164,266 |
| Other | 5,648 | 0 | 5,648 |
| Total Non-marketable | $619,510 | $4,073,077 | $4,692,587 |
| ======= | ======= | ======= | |
| Total Public Debt | $5,136,303 | $4,092,870 | $9,229,173 |
Intragovernmental holdings ($millions):
2,024,392 - Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund
$ 696,301 - Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, Office of Personnel Management
$ 326,096 - Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
$ 224,487 - Department of Defense Military Retirement Fund
$ 215,046 Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund
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