Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on December 17, 2010

First things first: The president’s approval index is still at a dismal minus 19 as of today, December 17, 2010:

Minus 19: Rasmussen Reports presidential approval index, December 17, 2010

Earlier this week, Sean Hannity interviewed Democrat Gov. Edward Rendell in Pennsylvania on the Democratic Party, Pres. Obama’s 2012 run, and the weaknesses of the president. The discussion about the tax rate extension is now moot, since that became a bit of a fiasco late yesterday with the tax bill being pulled before Congress voted on it just before midnight.

Democrats Divided: Frustration over Tax Cut Deal

Meanwhile, back on the Hill…

From Politico, Democrats concede budget fight to Republicans:

Senate Democrats abruptly abandoned an omnibus budget bill for the coming year, pushing major spending decisions into the next Congress and giving Republicans immense new leverage to confront President Barack Obama priorities.

The decision Thursday night sweeps away months of bipartisan work by the Senate Appropriations Committee which had crafted the $1.1 trillion bill to meet spending targets embraced by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) himself prior to the elections.

Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), an old McConnell friend, worked actively to round up as many as nine potential Republican votes for the compromise, but these numbers rapidly evaporated amid personal attacks and the uproar this week over spending earmarks in the package.

McConnell, embarrassed by reports on his own earmarks in the omnibus, went to the Senate floor Thursday to propose a one page, “clean” two month extension of the current stop gap funding resolution that has kept the government funded since Oct. 1. And as if caught with their hands in the cookie jar, he and other top Republicans vowed to do everything in their powers to kill the omnibus to square themselves with their tea party backers.

From The Hill, House passes temporary extension of Bush-era tax cuts, 277-148:

The House gave final approval late on Thursday night to a temporary extension of the George W. Bush-era tax rates, delivering a significant but politically bruising victory to President Obama.

The $858 billion legislation now heads to the president’s desk for his signature. It extends the Bush tax cuts across the board for two years, slashes the employee payroll tax by 2 percent for one year, renews the estate tax and extends unemployment insurance benefits for 13 months.

The vote was 277-148, and the bill gained a majority of both Democrats and Republicans despite complaints from each party’s political base. The legislation deepened divisions in the Democratic ranks and burst open festering tensions between House Democrats and the White House.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had herded her divided caucus through the contentious process, said afterward she was pleased with the outcome despite her reservations about the bill.

[...]

Minutes before the final vote, the House turned aside a Democratic amendment to raise the estate tax provision in the bill. Incorporating that change would have sent the bill back to the Senate and faced certain Republican opposition there.

The last votes Thursday capped a fractious three-week debate after Obama abandoned his Democratic allies in the House to cut a deal with Senate Republicans. House Democrats revolted over the pact, decrying the president for capitulating on one of his party’s signature domestic priorities: ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

From Ace of Spades HQ, House Voting On Tax Deal. UPDATE: Done 277-148 (I Blame Bush):

They got though their speed bump from earlier today by allowing the Democrats to vote separately on an amendment that would have raised the Death Tax and then on final passage. This gave liberals the chance to vote yes on raising the Death Tax and then no on the deal as a whole. It was a crazy procedural thing.

They are now voting on the whole deal as the Senate passed it. It’s in the bag.

Update: They already have over 230 votes for it, so that’s that.

From Nice Deb, How OmniPork died:

Bob Costa has the postmortem at National Review:

Retiring GOP senators like Kit Bond (Mo.), George Voinovich (Ohio), and Robert Bennett (Utah) were considered by numerous Senate aides to be, at varying points, susceptible to Reid’s machinations. Other Republicans rumored to be mulling a ‘yea’ vote on the omnibus included Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), who together requested more than $500 million worth of earmarks in the bill.

McConnell’s challenge was to softly cajole pork-friendly Republicans, many of whom hold senior status in the upper chamber, to abandon their home-state projects. At one point in the deliberations, Reid mentioned nine Republicans (though not by name) who had signaled their support. Senior GOP aides dispute that number, but either way, the bill appears to have come dangerously close to passing. It took McConnell’s flurry of phone calls, the zealous efforts of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), and threats from Sens. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) to force a reading of the bill to ultimately crash the omnibus.

Nice work by our Republican Senate leaders. They showed some backbone.

Related:
The Powers That Be: Jim DeMint Tries to Run Out Clock on Dems Attempted Grudge-Banging of America; Update: Harry Reid Pulls the Bill and Has There Ever Been a Better Argument Against Lame Duck Sessions?
Nice Deb: Panic at the Disco?: Tax Bill Pulled From House Floor and Video: Fineman Cites More “Startling” F-Bombs At Dem Closed Door Meeting
Big Government: No End to Pork Barrel Spending: Why We Are Going Broke
The Lonely Conservative: Who’s Not Paying Their Fair Share of Income Tax? and Obama’s Recovery: Temporary Jobs for Everyone! and Pelosi: It’s Not My Fault We Lost
Ace of Spades HQ: The Porky Tax Deal
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Oink: Sen. McCain Reads Aloud Some Porky Earmarks in Bill — Maple Syrup & Peanut Research, Oyster Safety, Edgar Allan Poe Visitors Center, Polynesian Voyaging Society, Among the $1.1 Trillion (video) and Left-Wing Media Mute about Food Stamps Jumping to New High: Almost 43 Million Americans Receiving Food Stamps Now
Three Beers Later: OBAMA ENDORSES BUSH ECONOMIC AGENDA!
On My Watch – The writings of SamHenry: Training Congress is Like Training a Puppy
Michelle Malkin: Watch out: More Obama union pay-offs in the works and Washington’s crab-in-the-bucket syndrome and Ted Turner Suggests Child Offsets; Poor People Overcrowding Planet, Obstructing View of His Vacant 2 Million Acres and Bush nostalgia: Let’s not get carried away, ok?
Voting American: World War ll Pearl Harbor survivor writes letter to Obama (via Voting American)
Motor City Times: Scary Graph: The Billion Prices Project
Gateway Pundit: BREAKING: Rep. Emanuel Cleaver Earmarks $48 BILLION to Pal Who Runs Child Day Care Center From Home With His Wife
The New Editor: More federal workers’ pay tops $150,000
The Camp of the Saints: The Righteous Rant Of The Day…
American Thinker: Is the Federal Reserve Destroying the Dollar?

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