McCain: Payroll-tax fight ‘harming the Republican Party’ (Scott Brown attacks Republicans)

The Hill, Washington, DC ^ | 2011-12-20 | Jonathan Easley

[rabscuttle385]

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the failure of the House to approve the bipartisan Senate bill to extend the payroll-tax cut is “harming the Republican Party.”

Speaking Tuesday on CNN’s “Situation Room,” McCain said that while it’s inevitable that the tax cut will ultimately be extended, the infighting reflects poorly on Republicans and Congress as a whole.

(snip)

McCain was one of 89 senators who overwhelmingly voted to extend the payroll-tax cut through February to give the sides more time to come to an agreement on how to pay for it. House Republicans say that debate should happen now.

Some GOP senators — a number of whom are up for re-election next year — have blasted House Republican leaders for not getting rank-and-file members to back the Senate bill.

“It angers me that House Republicans would rather continue playing politics than find solutions,” centrist Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said in a news release. “Their actions will hurt American families and be detrimental to our fragile economy. We are Americans first; now is not the time for drawing lines in the sand.”

[Mike Darancette]

If Brown and McCain are pissed then Boehner did right.

[Mike Darancette]

How exactly do we get a win out of this situation? It IS hurting the Republican party.

So you think that the vast majority of House Republicans are wrong? We do not want this issue to come back before the election. The win is either the issue goes away or the President and his Senate lap dogs allow taxes to go up on working Americans.

The Senators will whine like little bitches but they will come back.

[Mike Darancette]

I certainly hope that is not true. They should work until they pass something.

The house did pass a 1 year extension, then the Senate passed a 2 month extension, then the Senate left town. The next step is reconciliation by BOTH houses then another vote by BOTH houses.

[okie01]

What is the end game here? The bill passed the Senate already, and because Obama accepted the Keystone stuff it makes it appear he negotiated and didn't get everything he wanted but went along anyway for the sake of bipartisanship (even though we know he was just stuck because many Senate Democrats support Keystone).

Beg to differ.

As written, the Senate payroll bill cannot be implemented. Every payroll system in the USA will have to be re-written in order to accommodate it -- during the next two weeks.

Not going to happen.

Was this out of ignorance? Or was it by design?

Harry Reid gave the Senate Democrats a clever way to vote for the Keystone pipeline -- without forcing the President into a veto he does not want to cast.

Obviously, the Senate bill cannot/should not be passed by the House. It's unworkable.

What was the purpose of a two-month extension anyway? What purpose was served?

[Mike Darancette]

Because otherwise, Obama may still get someone to shoot it down.

That pipeline will not be built under the Obama Regime.

[kabar]

I despise McCain more than anyone. But he is DEAD RIGHT. This is idiotic. Who the hell cares about a stupid 2% SS adjustment? It is meaningless to most Americans, and not worth all this agita - for which the media will blame the GOP 100%.

You seem to be missing the point. The House passed its bill first and outlined not only a year's extension of the payroll contribution cut of 2%, but also included other issues like the pipeline, how the cut will be paid for including a freeze on federal employee salaries including Congress. The Senate bill has a different approach including tax increases.

The Senate hasn't approved a budget for over two years. It had the nerve to pass its bill and leave town leaving the House to deal with a take it or leave it approach rather than the normal way Congress operates. Is the Rep controlled House an equal to the Dem-controlled Senate or must the House defer to the Senate? And by extending the payroll contribution cut for only two months, the battle will be rejoined again allowing the Dems another opportunity to demagog the issue again, more than likely until November with a string of extensions. And there are some very real practical considerations in trying to implement two months at a time.

It is idiotic if the Reps cave in to the Dems once again. Here is the comparison between the two bills:

House bill, approved last Tuesday:

_Price tag over $180 billion.

_Keeps this year's 4.2 percent Social Security payroll tax rate paid by 160 million workers through the end of 2012, instead of rising to 6.2 percent on Jan. 1.

_Extends expiring benefits for the long-term jobless through 2012, but at a maximum of 79 weeks coverage, less in some cases, which is well below this year's 99-week limit. Revamps program to require beneficiaries without high school diplomas to seek an equivalent degree; lets states test applicants for illegal drug use.

_Prevents 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors for 2012.

_Blocks Obama administration rule curbing pollution from industrial boilers; extends tax break for businesses buying equipment for 2012.

_Price tag over $180 billion.

_Keeps this year's 4.2 percent Social Security payroll tax rate paid by 160 million workers through the end of 2012, instead of rising to 6.2 percent on Jan. 1.

Requires President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline within 60 days unless he declares the project would not serve the national interest.

_Paid for by extending current pay freeze on civilian federal workers another year through 2013 and requires them to contribute more toward their pensions; raises fee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge for insuring mortgages; raises Medicare premiums paid by higher-income elderly; cuts some health care overhaul law programs; sells part of broadcast spectrum; prevents illegal immigrant parents from collecting child tax credit refund checks; bars food stamps, unemployment benefits for the wealthy.

Senate bill, approved Saturday:

_Price tag $33 billion.

_Extends 2-percentage-point cut in Social Security payroll tax through Feb. 29.

_Renews benefits for the long-term unemployed at current levels through Feb. 29, no other changes in program.

__Prevents 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors; extends other health care fees through Feb. 29.

__Same provision on Keystone as House.

__Paid for by increasing home loan guarantee fees charged to mortgage lenders by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by one-tenth of 1 percentage point. The fee is passed on to home buyers and will apply to many new purchases and refinancings starting Jan. 1.

[Justa]

Stop F-ing around with the Stupid S. We need to be ready to do Syria or Iran unless you’re willing to accept nuclear war in the ME.

Get your priorities straight.

[neverdem]

Elizabeth Warren can not be any worse than Scott Brown.

F him. Massachusetts can have her as their Senator. They're a bunch of communists anyway.

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. The GOP has 11 % of registered voters in MA. The rats got only 38 %, and the Indies are over 50 % of registered voters in MA. Brown is the best you're going to get in MA. Save your ire for RINOs that we can maybe do without like Snowe and Collins. The Tea Party had good results in Maine in 2010.

[Java4Jay]

Good post on the breakdown of the two different bills. I am against the 2% cut to the underfunded SS program.

I have to ask, where is the hit to the wealthy? Everyone needs to pony up to help get this debt under control.

I’m a fed employee making 64k/yr as a technician working under a pay freeze. The house bill extends that freeze and also raises my contribution to retirement, a hit that will show on my paycheck.

Extending unemployment helps those in need but also benefits businesses and the wealthy. I don’t see the house bill as being equal in how to pay for it.

I’m a conservative who supported Cain but I would have voted NO on house bill.

[Java4Jay]

Besides being against the 2% SS tax cut, I would have voted NO on senate bill due to ethics. A two month extension is no way of doing business and doubt the .1% loan fee will ever pay the 33 billion tab.

[Java4Jay]

Correction: .01% increase in loan fee

[kabar]

Federal employees are not underpaid. I say that advisedly having worked for the USG for 36 years. I have been retired for 11 years. I have already received more than ten times what I put into the retirement fund. I get $115 K after this years 3.6% COLA increase. Taxpayers are going to demand that federal/public employees not get much more in the way of pay and benefits than in the private sector.

I have to ask, where is the hit to the wealthy? Everyone needs to pony up to help get this debt under control.

The top 1% pay 38% of all the income taxes. The top 10% pay 70% of all income taxes. 47% of Americans pay no income taxes at all. Where is the fairness in that? And who is not paying their fair share? We have 46 million on food stamps and 60 million on Medicaid. Who pays for that?

Unless we get our entitlement programs under control, we will bankrupt the country. We could confiscate the wealth of the top 1% and not be able to pay for these programs. You are not a conservative if you believe in massive wealth redistribution. People are entitled to the fruits of their labor. It shouldn't be up to the government to decide how much you can keep under the presumption that the government has the right to your property.

[kabar]

I am against the 2% social security contribution cut period. SS has been running into the red since 2010 and will be permanently unless it is reformed.

Matters are even worse than this chart shows. In December, Congress passed a Social Security tax reduction. Workers are temporarily paying 2 percentage points less, from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, in Social Security payroll taxes this calendar year. Since the government is making up the shortfall out of general revenues, CBO’s deficit projections for the trust funds do not include that. But CBO’s figures predict that the "payroll tax holiday" will cost the government’s general fund $85 billion in this fiscal year and $29 billion in fiscal year 2012 (which starts Oct.1, 2011.) Since every dollar of that will have to be borrowed, the combined effect of the " tax holiday" and the annual deficits will amount to a $130 billion addition to the federal deficit in the current fiscal year, and $59 billion in fiscal 2012.

Social Security has passed a tipping point. For years it generated more revenue than it consumed, holding down the overall federal deficit and allowing Congress to spend more freely for other things. But those days are gone. Rather than lessening the federal deficit, Social Security has at last — as long predicted — become a drag on the government’s overall finances.

[Java4Jay]

You already got your fed money, you’re fat n’ happy. I work under the new revised pay scale which is much lower than the money you made. Your post is hypocritical. My previous statement was to point out the house bill has no contributions from the wealthy. In order to fix this budget mess ALL will need to pony up or there will be no bipartisan support and the gridlock will continue. 47% of Americans pay no Federal income taxes at all.

[Java4Jay]

Also from what I understand, the SS trust fund pays out for other things than what it was originally intended for. More is going out to other programs than to retirees.

[Java4Jay]

I lived a simple life, ‘Money’ was never my driving factor. I saw how my grandma survived in her later years. She survived on family, a small pension and SS benefits.

Now I’m 54, averaged 60k/yr the last 30 years, have a 401, my employer provides for a small pension and have ALWAYS planned on the SS benefits in my later years to survive.

I’ll probably never afford retirement but I’ve paid my SS dues and don’t consider it my ‘entitlement’.

[Java4Jay]

Let’s say ‘Tax Reform’ starts right now. Besides fixing all the waist, fraud and abuse, we start with the levels all are at and work from there.

All are going to have to pony up and compromise or nothing will get done. Don’t expect entitlement reform without higher taxes to lower the debt.

Yes I’m a conservative! No work, no food… more you work, more you eat.

[klute]

The Senate passed their measure 89-10. There is no way that many Republicans voted for the bill unless there was some confidence that a deal was worked out. Obviously that deal fell through or they were mistaken about it existing. Either way, there certainly looks like poor communication between the house and senate Republican leadership.

[klute]

The Senate passed their measure 89-10. There is no way that many Republicans voted for the bill unless there was some confidence that a deal was worked out. Obviously that deal fell through or they were mistaken about it existing. Either way, there certainly looks like poor communication between the house and senate Republican leadership.

[klute]

I am not saying it is a good bill. I am just saying they lose politically after 89 Senators including a lot of Republicans voted for the bill. They just didn’t have their act together and they would have been better off punting with the two month extension.