Payroll Tax Cut: 'Wall Street Journal' Editorial Rips GOP

Then you understand wrong.

jf1acai wrote: Yes, with all the lies floating around it is hard to keep track.

As I understand it, and may be wrong, President Obama requested a one year extension, the Republican controlled House passed a one year extension, the Democratic controlled Senate passed a 2 month extension, then split for the holidays so they wouldn't have to talk about it anymore.

There is one thing missing in that timeline, the one year extension the house passed contained a poison pill they KNEW would not pass the senate and that Obama would veto.....but they did it anyway. Then the compromise came along in the senate with what appeared to be Boehner's approval......after that the house wouldn't go along, and here we are.....pretty pathetic if you ask me. The GOP shot itself in the foot passing an extension they knew would never fly, then getting all pissy when confronted with a compromise that the majority of Republicans in the senate supported and passed. Now the house Republicans look like petulant children who because they didn't get their way, they are going to punish everyone.

Only LJ the p********* of the dims would make such a post. I hope the payroll tax goes back into effect as it helps to fund social security. Last I heard this is well underfunded. If you want your entitlements you have to pay for them.

Even Karl Rove agrees with the WSJ editorial...

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57346952-503544/karl-rove-piles-on-tells-republicans-to-cut-bait-in-tax-standoff/

You know it's bad for Republicans when Karl Rove says it's time to cave and move on.

The former political adviser to President George W. Bush said Wednesday that the famously conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page was right when it said House Republicans should cut their losses and agree with a bipartisan Senate plan to extend for just two months the payroll tax cut enacted last year.

Republicans "have lost the optics on it," Rove told Fox News, "the question now is how do the Republicans get out of it."

2milehigh wrote: I hope the payroll tax goes back into effect as it helps to fund social security. Last I heard this is well underfunded. If you want your entitlements you have to pay for them.

I agree (But hey this is America, we don't have to pay for stuff), it was a mistake to cut them in the first place. Let the "1 year holiday" expire.

The democrats have no intention of ever letting this expire. Ever. Has anyone figured this out yet?

I'd normally agree that it's irresponsible to keep extending the payroll tax cut because that's what is supposed to fund Social Security and it is already taking in less than it pays out. If that were the case, it would be dumb to underfund it.

The problem is there really isn't a true Social Security trust fund which is funded specifically by the payroll tax. It all goes into the general fund where Congress can pick and choose where they spend it. Congress can choose to fully fund Social Security, or not fund it. So this 2% cut in the payroll tax is really a 2% cut in one source of income to the general fund. It's become more of a deficit issue than a specific Social Security issue.

The Republicans could of gotten a 1 year deal if they had agreed to the Dem's plan for a modest tax increase for those making over $1 million a year to pay for the 2% cut. Instead the Repubs attached the Keystone pipeline to the bill which really has nothing to do with the tax cut or funding it.

Next came the 2 month compromise which all but 7 Republicans supported in the Senate. But the Republican leadership did a 180 flip-flop in the House and they wouldn't even allow the House to vote on the compromise. They knew it would of passed in the House, had they been allowed to vote on it.

Like the unpaid-for 10-year "Bush Tax-Cuts" were supposed to expire, but ....

Hey, they fought two unnecessary, unpaid-for wars (for over a $Trillion, and now all of a sudden they want to pay for a measly tax cut for the middle class?) I seem to remember the GOP saying that "Tax cuts didn't need to be paid for because they paid for themselves." Whatever happened to that?

archer wrote:

jf1acai wrote: Yes, with all the lies floating around it is hard to keep track.

As I understand it, and may be wrong, President Obama requested a one year extension, the Republican controlled House passed a one year extension, the Democratic controlled Senate passed a 2 month extension, then split for the holidays so they wouldn't have to talk about it anymore.

There is one thing missing in that timeline, the one year extension the house passed contained a poison pill they KNEW would not pass the senate and that Obama would veto.....but they did it anyway. Then the compromise came along in the senate with what appeared to be Boehner's approval......after that the house wouldn't go along, and here we are.....pretty pathetic if you ask me. The GOP shot itself in the foot passing an extension they knew would never fly, then getting all pissy when confronted with a compromise that the majority of Republicans in the senate supported and passed. Now the house Republicans look like petulant children who because they didn't get their way, they are going to punish everyone.

A poison pill? You mean a pipeline that will add thousands of jobs and tax revenues? When did such a thing become a poison pill?

environmental studies are not complete and some states had worries about such a pipeline running along/through their water tables. I think it's wise to plan this carefully. We could have thousands of jobs without this pipeline if we just worked on our current crumbling infrastructure - roads, bridges, power grids, dams, etc

RenegadeCJ wrote: A poison pill? You mean a pipeline that will add thousands of jobs and tax revenues? When did such a thing become a poison pill?

Did you forget the provision to eliminate controls on toxic pollutants? That, and the addition of the pipeline to the bill assured that it could not pass the senate and would be vetoed by the president. Why spend the time on something they KNOW will fail? Now they just look stupid and petty......The Republicans and Democrats worked on getting a compromise, with time running out they agreed on a short term fix so they would have the time to get a good bill done in the new year.....but the house, who had blown their chance to do a a bill extending the payroll tax cut that could get bi-partisan support, dug their little heels in and decided to have a temper tantrum instead.