GOP pushes tax bill through Congress

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - Rejected by voters and limping off stage, the Republican-led Congress muscled through a sweeping bill reviving expired tax breaks, extending trade benefits for developing countries and protecting doctors from a big cut in Medicare payments.

The Senate cleared the bill for President Bush's signature early Saturday by a 79-9 vote. Final adjournment loomed.

But Republicans dumped an unfinished budget on the Democrats about to take power, with the Senate barely meeting a midnight deadline to pass a stopgap spending bill putting the government on autopilot until Feb. 15.

The failure to pass budget bills for domestic agencies, said Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., amounted to "a blatant admission of abject failure by the most useless Congress in modern times."

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061209/ap_on_go_co/congress_rdp

[cal04]

1. Congress OKs landmark U.S.-India nuclear bill

Rare victory for Bush; critics warn measure could trigger Asian arms race

The U.S. Congress approved legislation Saturday allowing U.S. shipments of civilian nuclear fuel to India, handing President Bush a victory on a top initiative and setting up a major shift in American policy. Critics said the measure would spark a nuclear arms race in Asia by boosting India’s atomic arsenal.

Following overwhelming endorsement Friday in the House of Representatives, the Senate cleared the bill early Saturday for Bush to sign into law.

It reverses three decades of American anti-proliferation policy and, supporters say, deepens ties with a democratic Asian power that has long maintained what the Bush administration considers a responsible nuclear program.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16119557/

[xchrom]

2. and india will develop nuclear weapons.

they have two potentially fierce adversaries on their borders -- both of whom have nukes.

india will most certainly raise the stakes.

[sutz12]

3. I believe India already has nukes...

They had them before Pakistan.

[xchrom]

5. indeed they do -- and yes before pakistan.

and they'll develop more.

[jamesinca]

9. here is the problem as I see it.

We get mango's from India, they get nuclear stuff form us. India is on good terms with the Iranian military. In addition to the arms race that this will spark between India and Pakistan, Iran may pick up nuclear stuff. Remember India never did sign the non-proliferation treaty. How serious is the US about Iranian nuclear development when we are giving them nuclear material indirectly?

I think we also have agreed to give Pakistan nuclear material. With the help of AQ Khan (what ever his name is), Pakistan can really help N. Korea with their program. We say we are against that too.

This is how I understand it:
1) India gets nuclear stuff and gives it to Iran
2) Pakistan gets nuclear stuff and gives it to N. Korea
3) Arms race happens because neither India or Pakistan know how much has been received or given away.
4) U.S. gets mango's from India and complains about Iran and N. Korea having nuclear stuff that was made in the US none the less.

[xchrom]

14. well -- i don't know about the mangos as india is fast becoming

silicon subcontinent.

and india probably invests more than you and i are aware on covert information.

now that would be an interesting topic.

[jamesinca]

21. I think it was mangos that Bush traded for

when he was over there defiling and desecrating the tomb of Gandhi earlier this year. He was also making a trade agreement with India and mangos were one of the things being traded.

[izzie]

4. Did the House pass that oil bill on paying the tax payers or

did it stick with keeping all the profits for the corp? I just love having all the 'royals' back in power. I think they are even stating to inter marry. Soon they will all talk funny like the old Sp. royals. Bush has it down pretty well now. To bad Chaney and Bush only have girls.Even that does not really have to put off carrying the line on from what I read.

[ClintonTyree]

6. By all means, let's keep the arms race roaring along....

there just isn't enough instability in the world, let's create some more. Of course, most of those "arms" come from the U.S., from the very companies that The Carlyle Group holds so much stock in. Yep, making money on the war trade is as American as apple pie. And what does it matter? All of that money they make to destabilize the world and throw it into an apocalyptic nightmare? They CAN take it with them, you know? :sarcasm:

[jazzjunkysue]

7. Dems Remove Tu-Tu's. Force minimum wage up! Nancy's got a pair!

Democrats made good on a promise to block an automatic congressional pay raise until the minimum wage is increased. Under pressure from future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Reid, GOP leaders added language to the stopgap funding bill language stopping the pay raise slated for Jan. 1 until Feb. 16.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., gave extraordinary floor speeches lambasting his party for losing its way on fiscal discipline and its leadership for jamming the bill past rank-and-file Republicans opposing the massive measure.

"You just have to ask yourself how we, as a party, got to this point, where we have a leadership which is going to ram down the throats of our party the biggest budget buster in the history of the Congress under Republican leadership," Gregg said.

[Toots]

8. the Republican-led Congress muscled through a sweeping bill

The Senate cleared the bill for President Bush's signature early Saturday by a 79-9 vote :shrug: Some muscle...

[papau]

10. Republican Rule in Congress Ends With Tax Cuts, Trade Measure

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4AooG51fYbw&refer=home

Republican Rule in Congress Ends With Tax Cuts, Trade Measure

By Nicholas Johnston

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Congress ended 12 years of Republican control by passing tax breaks, trade benefits and a nuclear accord with India, while leaving most budget work unfinished until Democrats take over in January.

Working past 2 a.m., lawmakers also overhauled the U.S. Postal Service and made it illegal to use a false identity to gain access to phone records. <SNIP>

Among the last acts of the Republican-led Congress was passing a measure that extends $38 billion in corporate and individual tax breaks that mostly expired last year. It also allows expanded oil and gas drilling off U.S. coasts and prevents a fee cut for doctors who are paid by Medicare.

The measure renews a $16.3 billion research tax credit that benefits companies such as Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett- Packard Co., and St. Louis-based Monsanto Co., while including $1 billion incentive for retailers such as Bentonville, Arkansas- based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to hire welfare recipients, $2.7 billion for the restaurant industry by allowing faster amortization of construction and money to help clean up abandoned mines.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/09/CONGRESS.TMP

The 367-45 vote on the tax bill reflected widespread bipartisan support for extending expired tax breaks, including a research and development tax credit for businesses, a tax deduction on college tuition, a tax credit for hiring welfare recipients and others, and tax credits for alternative energy producers and purchases of solar energy equipment by homeowners and businesses.

All told, the tax cuts would cost $38 billion over five years

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/12/09/gop_senator_upbraids_colleagues/

Gregg did not return calls seeking comment after his speech. He was angered by the $45 billion package of tax cuts that was prepared by Republican leaders in the closing hours of the congressional session.

Marbled into the bill's 500 pages were extensions of the popular research and development and student loan tax deductions, a provision allowing taxpayers to deduct sales taxes from their federal taxes if they live in states that do not have income taxes, and a laundry list of special-interest tax cuts.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-congress9dec09,0,2209156,full.story?coll=la-news-politics-national

<SNIP>Lawmakers worked several healthcare measures into the tax bill, including legislation to cancel a scheduled 5% cut in payments to doctors who treat elderly Medicare recipients, and changes that would allow individuals to put more money into tax-sheltered health savings accounts, a new type of medical insurance favored by many Republicans.

Separately, the tax bill also addressed some unintended consequences of legislation that Congress passed last year to keep illegal immigrants from getting healthcare benefits through the Medicaid program for the poor. Hundreds of thousands of people who were legally entitled to benefits were inadvertently subjected to new requirements that they provide documents proving their citizenship. Some were frail seniors who had never been issued a birth certificate.
<SNIP>

However, Democrats bitterly criticized the provisions that would expand health-savings accounts. Many individuals use the tax-sheltered accounts to pay for routine bills while carrying low-cost "catastrophic" insurance for major medical problems.

Under the legislation, individuals would be able to contribute more money to the accounts, known as HSAs, and roll over limited amounts from Individual Retirement Accounts and other sources.

Some Democrats say the accounts provide a way for upper-income individuals to shelter more of their wealth from taxes and could undermine traditional insurance.<SNIP>

[Robbien]

23. This bill is a lobbyist's dream. Even Walmart gets tax credit help from this bill!

"The tax measure revived some 20 tax breaks, at a cost of $38 billion over five years, and a dozen credits promoting alternative and efficient uses of energy."

I see there is also Exxon Oil (with its 10 billion dollar quarterly profits) lining up to suck at the teat of the US taxpayer.

[Pachamama]

11. Are these people just plain insane?

Here we are with a budget still not settled, looming trade and budget deficits, a war that can hit a Trillion Dollars (that isn't even in the budget) and they pass more tax cuts?

:banghead:

What I don't get especially is that the vote was 79-9....Are the Dems so afraid to stand up (as well as "Real" Conservatives) who care about fiscal responsibility? Are they so afraid of being labeled as opposed to tax cuts?

[Rex]

12. 'the most useless Congress in modern times'

Bout sums it up.

[ananda]

13. So folks, what's changed?

What's changed since the Dems won Congress?

Absolutely nothing..

[progressive_realist]

15. Um

The new Dems don't take office until next month. This is still the 2005-2006 Congress.

[VegasWolf]

16. Exactly! With the Dems supporting large Corporate tax breaks in such

large numbers, nothing will change. Even with a 10 trillion dollar deficit the big corporations get their tax breaks. Not that expensive to buy a congress-critter anymore, regardless of the color of their stripe.

[KingFlorez]

17. You do realize the new Congress isn't in session yet?

The Democrats don't control anything yet.

[malmapus]

18. I'm just looking at the numbers 79-9

Quite a few of our Dems voted for this to go on through.

[VegasWolf]

19. We all know that. It's the numbers 79-9. The Congressional Budget Office says

that there is more pork in this bill than in Al Rokers dinner last night.

[Odin2005]

20. Honestly, I don't see the problem with India getting nuclear technology.

I was listening to the BBC this morning and heard that in China a new coal-burning power station is turned on every, IIRC, 10 days. I'd much rather India get a new nuclear power station every 10 days then a coal-fired one.

[Deja Q]

24. Unless India starts helping Iran, as has been suggested above...

[FreeStateDemocrat]

22. Dem corporate whores join pukes to screw working class, Meet the new boss same as the old boss.

New upcoming Democratic congress will be run by the same big money corporate influence as the old puke congress with some lip-stick applied to the pig to fool the public. Hate to say it but Nader(I still hate him for 2000) is more right than wrong about there not being much difference between the two parties particularly when it comes to congress selling out to corporate/wealthy interests. Increasing the health-care tax dodge accounts, a real solid core Democratic idea that was opposed by 9 Democratic Senators, what a load of BS. I need to take a long media break from this monumental level of hypocrisy. I was happy on November 7, now I realize that it really didn't change anything, it is the same fucking ruling class running the show.