WASHINGTON — The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress said Sunday that they would find a way to extend middle-class tax cuts after the November elections, unable to secure GOP backing before lawmakers break to campaign.
“One way or the other, we’re going to get it done. And I believe the pressure is going to build among the American people,” said David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s top political aide.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had suggested that a vote could be held this week before lawmakers leave town for the elections. But her deputy, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, said Sunday that holding a vote wouldn’t matter because the legislation is still languishing in the Senate under GOP objections.
All of the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 during the Bush administration, including lower rates on wages and investments for all Americans, are scheduled to expire Dec. 31.
Both parties are using the delay in a vote on the fate of these George W. Bush-era cuts at a time of record deficits as political ammunition this election season.
Democratic leaders have said they want to freeze tax rates for individuals making up to $200,000 and for families earning up to $250,000. At least five Senate Democrats and all 41 Republicans say Bush-era tax cuts should be extended across the board to help the economy recover from the worst recession since World War II.
Democrats control 59 seats in the Senate; party leaders last week said they would delay a vote until after November’s midterm elections, after concluding that, before the balloting, they wouldn’t find 60 votes needed to advance the measure.
“Some Democrats would say, ‘Well, perhaps we would do it a little bit differently,’” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the second-ranking Democrat, said. “But if that position doesn’t prevail, and I don’t think it will, then the ultimate choice is going to be whether or not we have the $250,000 income threshold for these tax cuts.
“I think at that time we’ll have the support of all the Democrats as well as some Republicans,” Durbin said.
Democrats think the climate for compromise will improve after the election. They will still need at least one Republican vote in the Senate to pass a bill.
“We are for making sure that the middle-class Americans do not get a tax increase. And we’re going to make sure that happens,” Hoyer said.
Republicans called for quicker action, saying business owners need more certainty to make plans. Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence called for “an up-or-down vote” on the tax-rate extensions “before Congress adjourns for the political season.”
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said delaying a vote is “the most irresponsible thing that I have seen since I’ve been in Washington, D.C., and I’ve been here a long time.”
Republicans say they want a chance to debate extending the tax cuts beyond the middle class or else they will block the Democratic proposal.
“If she’s not willing to have a fair and open debate, she should not count on our votes,” Boehner said of Pelosi.
Axelrod said that kind of strong-arm tactic will hurt Republicans in this fall’s election.
“They’re going to have to explain to their constituents why they’re holding up tax cuts for the middle class,” Axelrod said. “And I think it’s an untenable position to say, “We’re going to allow your taxes to go up on Jan. 1 unless the president agrees to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., rejected Democratic charges that his party is holding up middle-class tax cuts in order to get lower taxes on the rich.
“The question is, do we want to raise taxes in the middle of a very, very tough economy?” McConnell said. “All the Republicans think that’s a bad idea and a substantial number of the Democrats think the same thing.”
Durbin said he hoped the atmosphere will have changed after the election and the impasse ended.
“Occasionally one Republican will break ranks and help us,” he said.
Still, Republicans have seized on the impasse in Congress by alleging that Democrats are contributing to consumer uncertainty.
“The Democrats have failed to lead this,” said Rep.Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “They are going to want to leave the House without dealing with it. That uncertainty itself is keeping capital on the sidelines and keeping jobs from being created in America.”
Axelrod and McConnell spoke on ABC’s This Week. Hoyer, Boehner and McCarthy appeared on Fox News Sunday. Durbin was on CNN’s State of the Union. Pence spoke on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press and by Ryan J. Donmoyer, Jesse Westbrook and Courtney Schlisserman of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/27/2010