You have to hand it to the Party of No. They think they've got the American people all taped out. How do you block the Senate's payroll tax cut compromise in the House without looking like the Grinch? You wait until the Senate, having done its job by producing a strong, bipartisan compromise bill, leaves Washington. Then tell the world you plan to stay in Washington for the holidays.
Look at our sacrifice! Yes, it's true. We're missing Christmas dinner just so's to block tax relief for working families.
According to House Republican sources, their strategy is to generate as much news coverage as possible of their appointed conferees in coming days to keep the pressure on Democrats to negotiate.
"We are going to try to remind people that we are still in town ready to work," said one House GOP leadership aide.
One of the House negotiators, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, told CNN that he has already notified his wife that he will be in Washington for Christmas.
Genius. Hold your own family hostage because you can't back down and support the Senate's strong, bipartisan consensus bill.
Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack said he thought the vote “had a lot more to do with getting out of Washington and going back home and spending time with our loved ones – which we would all love to do, but the fact is, we’ve got work to do.”
Now that's what I call "Family Values."
Is it just me, or am I not hearing a clamoring of "loved ones" eager to get those GOP reps back home?
The logic is impeccable. We can't pass a two-month extension now that will allow negotiations to pass a year-long extension. Only a year-long extension will do!
Riding high on this logical surge, House Republicans are cocky and unfazedby suggestions that they grow up, pass the two-month bill and just go home:
House Republicans seem increasingly unperturbed by the potential fallout. “As to the political implications? I don’t care about political implications,” said New York Rep. Tom Reed, when asked how the public might view the House holding up the Senate bill.
“I don’t care about my reelection effort. I came here to do what’s right for America. Two-month policy coming out of the Senate is not what’s right for America,” he said. “So, we’re going to start this conversation now. As to our colleagues in the Senate GOP: I’m very troubled by the actions that they took, that they demonstrated with that vote.”
Get it? A two-month policy is Wrong for America, even if it makes way for a vote on a year-long policy in January. Only a year-long policy passed now is Right for America.
It's amusing to see the Freshman GOP run riot over House leadership, in a way. Sometime in early spring, they'll find that bucking the party machine is not always a smart move.
Lucky for them that they don't care about re-election.
It seems obvious that the House GOP leadership is no longer a unified block. That's obvious in House Speaker John Boehner's flat-out betrayal of the Senate Republicans who compromised:
Three times at a news conference on Friday, Boehner was asked whether he could support a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, as Senate Democrats and Republicans were planning. Three times, Boehner declined to state an objection to the two-month extension (he objected to a different part of the agreement, about an oil pipeline, which the senators subsequently changed to his liking).
“I just gave you an answer. How much clearer can I be?” Boehner said, refusing to take issue with the two-month extension.
And so senators passed the extension, 89 to 10. Tea Party heroes Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio voted for the compromise. The fiercest budget cutter of them all, Sen. Tom Coburn, voted for it. Republican lions such as John Cornyn, Jon Kyl and Mitch McConnell voted for it. Only seven Republicans voted “no.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Boehner is struggling to explain his failure to lead his runaway caucus by asking everyone else to lead instead:
“The American people need leadership, Mr. President. I hope you will call on the Senate to do the right thing and work with us to pass a bill to extend payroll tax relief for a full year before December 31, 2011.”
It's not my fault! It's your fault! You passed a bill but only for a two-month policy that would enable a full-year policy. I can only accept a full-year policy. But I won't say so until you've passed the two-month-to-full-year policy and left town.
I sure hope that Rep. Boehner, and his caucus, enjoys cold pizza this Sunday.