Skip to main content

Senate Tax Vote Soon

Senate Tax Vote Soon - The final obstacle to President Barack Obama's tax deal—the opposition of House Democrats—appeared to be melting away Tuesday as strong Senate support for the legislation turned up pressure on liberal critics to concede.

"It's a fast-moving train," said Rep. Peter Welch (D., Vt.), who has led opposition to the legislation to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all income groups. "The momentum is all in its favor, that's for sure."

Rep. Jim McDermott (D., Wash.) called the bill "just awful." He said the bill includes elements he supports, but that it remains a bitter pill to swallow.

"I still have to eat the estate tax and an extension of tax benefits to people above $250,000, and an extension of unemployment benefits for only one year, said Mr. McDermott. "When you put those three elements together, I have a hard time getting excited about what's on the Christmas tree," said McDermott.

Senate Tax Vote Soon

On Monday, the Senate voted 83-15 to advance the tax bill, which would block an across-the-board income tax increase Jan.1 and extend lapsed unemployment benefits, among other provisions. A final Senate vote approving the bill, likely by a similarly wide margin, was expected late Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

House Democratic leaders are expected to bring up the bill as early as Wednesday and allow a vote on an amendment to raise the bill's estate-tax rate, which liberals believe is too low. But Democratic critics concede that odds of the bill changing are long.

"The clock's ticking, the end of the year is here, and members are looking at this as the last proposal," said Richard Neal (D, Mass.), a senior member of the House's tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. "My guess is it probably gets a fair number of Democratic votes in the House."

Senate Tax Vote Soon
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist

Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist - An Irish tourist who was mauled to death by two dogs while visiting an organic farm in Penang yesterday morning had more than 50 bite wounds and lacerations all over his body. Penang Hospital Forensic Department head Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, who performed the post-mortem on Maurice Sullivan (pix), 50, today, said he found the wounds on the victim's head, neck, hands and legs. "The victim had died as a result of severe haemorrhage due to multiple injuries from the dogs' bites," he said, adding that there were no signs that Sullivan suffered any ailment at the time of death. Farm dogs maul Irish Tourist Bhupinder also said both Sullivan's ears and the left side of his face were gnawed off in the incident. One of the ears was recovered from the scene. Bhupinder told reporters this after carrying out the post-mortem which began at 10am. Sullivan was attacked by two mongrels at the farm while taking photographs of the gr...
6 comments
Read more

Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone

Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone - Police say a man on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas punched a teenager who refused to turn off his iPhone as the plane approached the Boise airport. Officers arrested 68-year-old Russell E. Miller, of Boise, on suspicion of misdemeanor battery Tuesday. He has been released from jail on bond. Witnesses told police the 15-year-old was playing games and listening to music on his cell phone when flight attendants instructed passengers to turn off their electronic devices because the plane was landing. Witnesses told police that when the teen didn't respond, Miller got angry and punched the boy in the arm. Miller says he "tapped" the teen on the shoulder after he refused to turn off the phone. He told the Idaho Statesman that he may have "overreacted," but that he did not punch the teen. Man Hits Teen on Plane Over iPhone
5 comments
Read more

Contactless Debit Cards

Contactless Debit Cards - Contactless debit cards will make their formal debut in Canada next year with the launch of Interac Flash from Acxsys Corp.’s Interac Association, Canada’s national debit network. Interac’s first two Flash issuers are Scotiabank and RBC Royal Bank, which will roll out their first contactless cards next summer. The first acquirer is TD Merchant Services, a unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank. More issuers and acquirers are on the way, an Interac spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News, though no announcements have been made yet. Interac and the banks tested Flash this summer at some high-volume, small-ticket merchants in downtown Toronto. The spokesperson expects national merchants will be making formal announcements about acceptance. “There’s a lot of excitement in the merchant community,” she says. “Merchants are looking for that faster throughput.” In a statement, the Retail Council of Canada endorsed the new card. “Interac Flash is a welcome and needed ...
Post a Comment
Read more