WASHINGTON — The Senate has debated, sniped and voted on the politically fraught issue of tax cuts, and next week the House is likely to do it all over again. Still, Americans won’t know until after the November elections how much more of their paychecks will go to the government next year.
House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that his Republican-led chamber is “more than willing” to make Democrats vote on President Barack Obama’s plan to extend former President George W. Bush’s tax-rate cuts for all but the wealthiest Americans. He also is bringing up the GOP’s proposal to extend the tax cuts for everyone.
The outcome is almost certainly stalemated until the November elections, so leaders of both houses of Congress are turning the House and Senate into campaign stages on one of the defining issues of the presidential and congressional races.
Obama signaled Thursday he’s ready to do his part to light a fire under lawmakers. “I would urge the House of Representatives to do the right thing,” he told reporters. He said he and top aides will “amplify that message.”
The Senate vote on the $250 billion Democratic bill Wednesday was a near-party line 51-40 tally, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding over the chamber in the unlikely event his vote was needed to break a tie.
The measure stands no chance of surviving the Republican-led House, which next week will pass tax cuts nearly identical to a $405 billion Republican plan the Senate rejected Wednesday.
