why would the dems have accepted it even if it passed the House. Reid would just have let it die in the Senate like all the other House GOP bills. I don’t really see the big deal here. what really changed with this going down?
It would have depended on reaction if it passed.
If the GOP passed it and were able to follow it up with the message that they DID raise taxes on millionaires and protected most small businesses and that the Dems had earlier said they wanted a "millionaire's tax" then Reid might have come under pressure to pass a similar one.
At the very least I think the Senate would have been pressured to reconcile it with a bill that previously passed in the Senate which would result in a bill much better than the one the WH wants.
What really changed is that Reid and Obama did not want the House to pass Plan B. It would have sent all the slop over to the Senate, which is totally dysfunctional. Reid pocketing a bill would not absolve him responsibility.
The GOP far right made a decision based on primaries in their own districts in 2014 rather than bitch slapping Obama and Reid tonight - and thru the holiday week.
This is now a rerun of last year’s payroll tax disaster.