Obama to sign law ending military gay ban

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Anne Flaherty, Associated Press – 2 hrs 3 mins ago

WASHINGTON – In a historic vote for gay rights, the Senate agreed on Saturday to do away with the military’s 17-year ban on openly gay troops and sent President Barack Obama legislation to overturn the Clinton-era policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Obama was expected to sign the bill into law next week, although changes to military policy probably wouldn’t take effect for at least several months. Under the bill, the president and his top military advisers must first certify that lifting the ban won’t hurt troops’ ability to fight. After that, the military would undergo a 60-day wait period.

[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]

 

Repeal would mean that, for the first time in American history, gays would be openly accepted by the armed forces and could acknowledge their sexual orientation without fear of being kicked out.

More than 13,500 service members have been dismissed under the 1993 law.

“It is time to close this chapter in our history,” Obama said in a statement. “It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.”

The Senate voted 65-31 to pass the bill, with eight Republicans siding with 55 Democrats and two independents in favor of repeal. The House had passed an identical version of the bill, 250-175, earlier this week.

Supporters hailed the Senate vote as a major step forward for gay rights. Many activists hope that integrating openly gay troops within the military will lead to greater acceptance in the civilian world, as it did for blacks after President Harry Truman’s 1948 executive order on equal treatment regardless of race in the military.

“The military remains the great equalizer,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. “Just like we did after President Truman desegregated the military, we’ll someday look back and wonder what took Washington so long to fix it.”

Sen. John McCain, Obama’s GOP rival in 2008, led the opposition. Speaking on the Senate floor minutes before a crucial test vote, the Arizona Republican acknowledged he couldn’t stop the bill. He blamed elite liberals with no military experience for pushing their social agenda on troops during wartime.

“They will do what is asked of them,” McCain said of service members. “But don’t think there won’t be a great cost.”

How the military will implement a change in policy, and how long that will take remains unclear. Senior Pentagon officials have said the new policy could be rolled out incrementally, service by service or unit by unit.

In a statement issued immediately after the vote, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he will begin the certification process immediately. But any change in policy won’t come until after careful consultation with military service chiefs and combatant commanders, he said.

“Successful implementation will depend upon strong leadership, a clear message and proactive education throughout the force,” he said.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he welcomes the change.

“No longer will able men and women who want to serve and sacrifice for their country have to sacrifice their integrity to do so,” he said. “We will be a better military as a result.”

Sen. Carl Levin, a chief proponent of repeal, said he has received a commitment from the administration that it won’t drag its heels.

“We hope it will be sooner, rather than later,” he said.

The fate of “don’t ask, don’t tell” had been far from certain earlier this year when Obama called for its repeal in his State of the Union address. Despite strong backing from liberals in Congress, Republicans and conservative Democrats remained skeptical that lifting the ban could be done quickly without hurting combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In February, Mullen provided the momentum Obama needed by telling a packed Senate hearing room that he felt the law was unjust. As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mullen became the first senior active-duty officer in the military to suggest that gays could serve openly without affecting military effectiveness.

“No matter how I look at the issue,” Mullen said, “I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

With Mullen’s backing, Gates ordered a yearlong study on the impact, including a survey of troops and their families.

The study, released Nov. 30, found that two-thirds of service members didn’t think changing the law would have much of an effect. But of those who did predict negative consequences, most were assigned to combat arms units. The statistic became ammunition for opponents of repeal, including the service chiefs of the Army and Marine Corps.

“I don’t want to lose any Marines to the distraction,” Gen. James Amos, head of the Marine Corps, told reporters. “I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda (Naval Medical Center) with no legs be the result of any type of distraction.”

Mullen and Gates counter that the fear of disruption is overblown and could be addressed through training. They note the Pentagon’s finding that 92 percent of troops who believe they have served with a gay person saw no effect on their units’ morale or effectiveness.

But even with backing from Gates and Mullen, the bill appeared all but dead this month when Senate Republicans united against it on procedural grounds. In last-minute wrangling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was able to revive the bill during the rare Saturday session with just days to go before the lame-duck session was to end.

The Republicans who voted for repeal said the Pentagon study on gays and assurances from senior military leaders played a crucial role.

“The repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ will be implemented in a common sense way,” said Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich. “Our military leaders have assured Congress that our troops will engage in training and address relevant issues before instituting this policy change.”

Advocacy groups were jubilant following the Senate’s initial test vote that passed 63-33 and set up final passage. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network called the issue the “defining civil rights initiative of this decade.” Supporters of repeal filled the visitor seats overlooking the Senate floor, ready to protest had the bill failed.

“This has been a long-fought battle, but this failed and discriminatory law will now be history,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign.

At least 25 countries allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces, among them Britain, Canada and Israel, according to the Palm Center, a research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

___

Online:

Pentagon study: http://tinyurl.com/23lxc49

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network: http://www.sldn.org/

Information on the bill, H.R. 2965, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101218/ap_on_go_co/us_gays_in_military

No Primary Challengers for Obama as of yet!

With all the talk of problems the tax extension deal creates for President Obama from his left, at least one would-be 2012 presidential contender doesn’t seem interested in rising to the primary challenge. Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, who served as the Democratic National Committee chairman after his failed 2004 White House bid, had been named as a potential taker in challenging the president from within the party. But Dean said Sunday he doesn’t expect Obama to have to endure a primary challenger. “I don’t think he’s going to face an opponent in the Democratic primary. I think that would be a bad thing for the country and I think it would be a bad thing for the Democratic Party. The history of people running against presidents in their own party is the challenger loses and then the president is weakened and loses,” Dean said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, who’s leaving the White House soon to crank up the president’s re-election effort, said he, too, isn’t worried about a primary challenge. “No, I don’t worry about that at all,” Axelrod said on the same program, “because I think he’s done good things for the country. He’s fighting for the American people and for progress. And that progress is going to show. The thing that would be worrisome to me if we made a bunch of decisions based on short-term political calculations.” YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN Stuxnet Worm Still Out of Control at Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Experts Say Madoff’s eldest son hangs himself in NYC apartment Why You Shouldn’t Sign Up for Store Credit Card Deals You Found Someone’s Debit Card. Do You Pick it Up? Derailed: Why High-Speed Trains Haven’t Caught On in the U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., agreed that Obama won’t face a challenge despite all the anger about the backroom deal he negotiated last week with Republicans and absent Democratic input. “No. There’s no challenge. Look, everybody’s on the same page. Everyone supports the same agenda,” he told “Fox News Sunday,” though he noted that some members of the Democratic Caucus will “never go along with any compromise” on tax rates. But the anger on the left over the president’s deal-making, seen by many as an acknowledgement of the “shellacking” Democrats took in the midterm election, gave rise to talk of a challenger somewhere. One report said liberals in the House were dropping F-bombs on the president during the week. McClatchy reported Saturday a new poll of 1,029 adults that showed the president’s approval rating among liberals dropping from 78 to 69 percent, while his disapproval rating in that group jumped from 14 to 22 percent. Obama’s approval rating is 42 percent overall, according to the poll. Dean’s name came up as a possible challenger, as did those of defeated Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin or would-be filibustering independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But since then, some on the left, while angry about compromise, have tempered their outbursts. That cooling-off may have been the result of former President Bill Clinton’s encore turn Friday at the White House briefing room, which left some to concede that if it’s good enough for the ever-popular Clinton, it’s good enough for them. For others, it may have been the dire warnings from editorialists like The Washington Post’s Colbert King, who said a primary challenge would leave the Democratic Party paying “a steep price” for years to come. So far, the only potential candidate reportedly willing to go on record about stepping up to a primary challenge is former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel. That’s not to say that liberal Democrats aren’t livid at the president. Progressive organizers and Internet campaigners who joined the “Rootscamp” event in Washington, D.C., this weekend did not disguise their disgust about the White House decision to cooperate with Republicans. “After President Obama’s victory, there was a promise that his vast grassroots network would help push the popular progressive change he campaigned on into law — things like the public option and ending tax cuts for the rich. Unfortunately, as the White House cut backroom deals that undercut those promises, they also demobilized their grassroots troops,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Campaign Committee. Green said his and other liberal groups “are now picking up the ball that this White House dropped.” But with a resounding silence among viable candidates who could challenge the previously adored president, angry liberals have few places to turn. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the second-in-command in the U.S. Senate and among the first lawmakers to encourage Obama to make a bid for the White House said the “harsh reality” is that any president will have to “accommodate the demands” of Republicans whether they want to or not. “If we want to change Washington and continue to move in the right direction, we need to stand together. And sometimes the accommodations that we make, the compromises that we make may be painful, but we’ve got to eat the spinach and keep moving on,” he said on CNN. Axelrod acknowledged that in 2012 Obama will have to face the politics of newly scheduled-to-expire tax rates, but he will have the American people on his side when he defends his refusal to make current tax rates permanent. “Right now, we face a situation where everyone’s taxes would go up on January 1. I think we’re going to be in a fundamentally different position in 2012. The economy will be stronger. We’ll have gone through a big debate on — on how we have to — what we have to cut and give up. I don’t think people are going to make that tradeoff in 2012,” he said. And if it’s a 2012 challenge from the right, Axelrod is best off to prepare now. The McClatchy poll out over the weekend showed Republican Mitt Romney defeating Obama in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. That’s attributed to Obama’s apparent drop in popularity among independent voters, who prefer Romney to the president 47-39 percent.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/12/primary-challengers-view-obama-clear-left/

Gay Rights Groups Plan Rally For Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Washington (CNN) — Gay rights groups have planned a rally near the U.S. Capitol at noon Friday to urge lawmakers to work through the winter holiday to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning openly gay and lesbian soldiers from military service.

“The Senate and the president must remain in session and in Washington to find another path for repeal to get done in the lame-duck,” said the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has been working to repeal the policy since it was first established in 1993.

On Thursday, the Senate rejected a Democratic bid to open debate on repealing the policy, possibly killing any chance for it to get passed in the current congressional session.

However, a bipartisan group of senators immediately said they would raise the issue again in a separate piece of legislation. It was unclear if the bid to separate the repeal provision from a larger defense authorization bill would increase its chances for approval.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, called Thursday’s vote without an agreement with any Republican senators to support the motion, ensuring it would fail. The vote was 57-40 in favor of the cloture motion that required 60 votes to pass.

A Republican filibuster forced Democrats to seek a deal that would get them the necessary GOP support to get the 60 votes to proceed. The Democratic caucus has 58 members, meaning they needed at least two Republicans to join them to overcome the filibuster.

Reid had been negotiating with moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine for her support, and he postponed a planned vote Wednesday to allow more time for the talks to reach agreement.

However, Reid announced Thursday he was calling the vote to open debate on the defense authorization bill, saying it was time to act on it after months of Republican obstruction and intransigence.

Collins, apparently caught by surprise, missed the start of Reid’s speech and requested a chance to question him on the Senate floor. She reiterated her support for repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” and asked if the deal she had been discussing with Reid on Wednesday still stood.

Reid indicated he would honor parameters of the deal, which would allow Republicans to offer up to 10 amendments along with ample time for debate, but he refused to make an outright commitment. He blamed Republican leaders for the situation and praised Collins for being the only GOP senator he could even speak to about a possible deal for her support.

In response, Collins said, “I am perplexed and frustrated that this important bill is going to become a victim of politics. We should be able to do better.”

The vote then proceeded, with Collins joining Democrats in voting to open debate while one Democrat, newly elected Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted with the filibustering Republicans. Manchin’s opposing vote killed any chance for the Democrats to succeed.

President Barack Obama said in a statement that he was “extremely disappointed that yet another filibuster has prevented the Senate from moving forward” with the defense authorization measure that includes the repeal provision.

Noting support for repeal from the defense secretary, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman and a majority of Americans, Obama said the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy “weakens our national security, diminishes our military readiness, and violates fundamental American principles of fairness, integrity and equality,” Obama’s statement said.

“While today’s vote was disappointing, it must not be the end of our efforts,” Obama said. “I urge the Senate to revisit these important issues during the lame-duck session.”

Gay rights advocacy groups, including those comprising military personnel, immediately condemned the Senate vote.

“Today leaders of both parties let down the U.S. military and the American people,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “Instead of doing what is right, ‘the world’s greatest deliberative body’ devolved into shameful schoolyard spats that put petty partisan politics above the needs of our women and men in uniform.”

Solmonese added. “This fight is too important to give up despite this setback and we will continue fighting in this lame-duck session. It’s not over.”

Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who caucuses with the Democrats, later said he believed that up to four Republican senators — Collins, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Richard Lugar of Indiana — might support a separate repeal proposal that he will introduce with Collins and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado.

Before Thursday’s vote, Reid complained that all 42 of the GOP senators have pledged to block action on any measure before the chamber deals with extending Bush-era tax cuts and authorizing government spending for the rest of the fiscal year.

The Democratic strategy appeared to be to try to persuade Collins to vote for opening debate on the measure so that the two other Republicans who also have expressed support for a repeal — Brown and Murkowski — also might do so. Murkowski announced her support for a repeal in a statement Wednesday.

Democrats were pushing for action now because the new Congress in January brings a Republican-controlled House and a diminished Democratic majority in the Senate, which will make repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” more difficult.

Collins said Wednesday she had asked Reid to delay the vote until after the Senate completes work on the package of tax measures negotiated by the White House and congressional leaders, which Republicans consider a top priority in the final weeks of the lame-duck session that ends in early January.

She also wanted Reid to schedule sufficient time to debate the defense authorization bill that contains the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal measure.

Both Reid and Collins, in their comments on the Senate floor Thursday, acknowledged an agreement for the debate to include up to 15 amendments — 10 by Republicans and five by Democrats. However, Reid appeared to oppose the request to wait until the tax package had been passed.

Obama has been calling senators in both parties to urge their support, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. Before Thursday’s vote, Gibbs told reporters that congressional repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” was the best way forward, and he believed it could happen before the end of the year.

Obama has called for repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” after years of debate on the policy that detractors consider discriminatory. More than 400 military personnel were discharged under the policy in 2009, and a federal judge ruled it unconstitutional in a case that is under appeal.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen both have urged Congress to vote for a repeal. The measure before the Senate, which has already gained approval in the House, contains a process for implementing the change that requires certification from the president, the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs chairman.

Gates has warned that court challenges to “don’t ask, don’t tell” could force an immediate repeal of the policy, rather than the process in the legislation that would allow the military to manage the change on a longer timetable.

CNN’s Tom Cohen and CNN’s senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/10/senate.dadt.vote/index.html

Obama Predicts Success For Tax Deal

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama said Friday he’s confident that Congress will pass a compromise tax package despite the objections of House Democrats.

“Nobody — Democrat or Republican — wants to see people’s paychecks smaller on January 1 because Congress didn’t act,” Obama said in an interview with National Public Radio.

“And I think that the framework that we’ve put forward, which says not only that people’s taxes don’t go up on January 1, but also that we extend unemployment insurance for a year, that we make sure that key provisions like the college tax credit, the child tax credit, the earned-income tax credit are included — that that framework is going to serve as the basis for compromise.”

The debate over taxes in the waning days of a lame-duck session of Congress illustrated the mistrust and animosity that has built up in the deeply partisan environment on Capitol Hill.

Democrats voted Thursday against considering the tax package that Obama negotiated with Republicans, raising questions over the president’s influence in his own party.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told CNN Friday that the tax plan will need Republican support to pass so that voters in 2012 will know it was not Democrats who approved the measure’s projected $857 billion cost.

Obama will have to “get more Republicans than Democrats to make it go through,” Ackerman said.

So far, Republicans “haven’t said that they’re all going to vote for it. They haven’t said how many votes they’re going to provide,” Ackerman said. “This is on our (Democrats’) watch. Then they’re going to attack us in the next election for increasing the deficit when most of them are going to vote against it. … Why should the Democrats get all the blame? The Republicans are very good at this. … They get the credit for everything we do. We get the blame for everything they did that went bad.”

Also Friday, conservatives Republicans questioned the tax and benefit package, warning it went against the campaign mantra from November of holding down the deficit.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, told CNN that the package would increase the deficit, adding that “investors are reacting to the increases in the deficit and so we’re concerned about that. We want to get on a sound financial footing.”

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, vowed earlier this week to filibuster the tax and benefit package to prevent a vote on the Senate floor. He noted that those who ran from the right in the election had said they would oppose anything that increased the deficit.

The Senate will consider the tax package first. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, released the first version of legislation to implement the negotiated deal and said the first vote on it, a procedural one to open debate, would occur Monday.

The Senate version made public by Reid was largely the same as the deal announced by Obama, but it added a one-year extension of a program that provides cash grants in lieu of a tax credit for construction of new solar and wind energy projects. The Treasury Grant Program was part of the 2009 economic stimulus bill.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Friday that the additional clean energy provision added $3 billion to the cost of the package. Meanwhile, a letter to House Democratic leaders signed by at least 79 Democratic members called for the provision to be extended for two years.

The negotiated package includes a two-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, as well as 13 months of unemployment benefits and a cut of 2 percentage points in the payroll tax. In addition, the plan extends current tax breaks for students and lower-income Americans, and adjusts the estate tax in a way that Democrats believe benefits the wealthy.

However, Bachmann and other conservatives complained that the compromise resurrects the estate tax, which had expired for 2010 but was set to be restored in 2011 at a rate of 55%, with inheritances under $1 million exempted. A bill that passed in the House set the tax rate at 45% and exempted inheritances under $3.5 million, while the provision in the tax deal would exempt estates up to $5 million and set the tax rate at 35%.

To Obama, the bottom line is that legislators from both parties will prevent a tax increase on January 1 by accepting the main components of the negotiated package, including the extension of unemployment benefits.

“At the end of the day, people are going to conclude we don’t want 2 million people suddenly without unemployment insurance and not able to pay their rent, not able to pay their mortgage, not able to pay their house note,” Obama said, adding that the package also will bolster the so-far sluggish recovery from a recession that has unemployment still near 10%.

“I think that people are also going to understand that the single most important thing we can do for all of our constituencies is to make sure that the recovery that is taking place right now gets stronger,” he said, adding that economists have noted the negotiated package would increase growth and could mean more jobs, a development that “has got to be the highest priority for everybody.”

He called for legislators “to act responsibly and to think not in terms of abstract political fights here … on Capitol Hill, but to think about those families that, in the middle of the holiday season, are trying to figure out — are they still going to have unemployment benefits at the end of this month?”

“I’m confident that we’re going to be able to get this resolved by the end of the month,” Obama said.

Thursday’s vote by the House Democratic caucus was a defiant rejection of both the agreement on tax and benefit measures, as well as what many Democrats in the chamber perceived as being marginalized in the talks by the White House.

“This message today is very simple. That in the form that it was negotiated, it is not acceptable to the House Democratic caucus,” said Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who represented House Democrats in the negotiations. He pledged to “work with the White House and our Republican colleagues to try and make sure we do something right for the economy and right for jobs.”

During their meeting, caucus members chanted “Just say no,” according to two Democrats in attendance, and Rep. Laura Richardson of California later asked reporters outside the room: “Did you hear us saying ‘Just say no’?”

Overall, Republicans generally appear supportive of the package, which White House advisers noted gave them their two main priorities — an extension of the lower tax rates from the Bush era to everyone, including the wealthiest Americans, and setting a lower-than-expected estate tax rate only on inheritances of more than $5 million.

Both provisions angered liberal Democrats, who oppose extending the lower tax rates enacted in 2001 and 2003 to the wealthy. Some said Obama should have forced a showdown with Republicans over the tax cut extensions by holding out longer to force more GOP concessions.

However, Obama and White House aides said the deal reached in negotiations was the best they would get from unyielding Republicans, who will take control of the House and enjoy a stronger minority stake in the Senate when the next session of Congress begins in early January.

Gibbs told reporters Thursday that he expected Congress to pass a package this year because the alternative was higher taxes for everyone after December 31.

“At the end of the day, members are not going to want to be in their districts, senators are not going to want to be in their districts, when their constituents find out their taxes have gone up by several thousands of dollars,” Gibbs said, noting that the deal is a compromise with elements unpalatable to both sides. “If everybody took out what they didn’t like, we’d have nothing. And we know the consequences of doing nothing.”

A top Democratic adviser to the White House added that Senate Democrats “have several vehicles they can use” as the legislative base for the tax plan, and are working on a plan to pass a tax bill and “then jam the House” with that legislation.

Some House Democrats say they will support the tax package as a compromise made under tough circumstances.

“If it passes the Senate and this is the compromise the president of the United States has committed to, what are we going do in the House, hold this up?” said Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada.

CNN’s Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh, Ed Henry, Tom Cohen and John Helton contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/10/tax.plan/index.html

Bipartisan Heat Flares Over Obama’s Tax Cut Compromise

Bipartisan Heat Flares Over Obama’s Tax Cut Compromise Published December 07, 2010 | FoxNews.com

– President Obama has scheduled a 2:20 p.m. ET press conference to discuss the compromise agreement with Republicans to extend existing tax rates. Watch Live on FoxNews.com. Compromise is a dirty word in Washington. And with an epic “deal” on the table to extend existing tax rates while granting a host of Republican and Democratic holiday wishes, it is pretty much guaranteed nobody’s happy in the rank-and-file. “A moral outrage,” is how Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, described the trade-off, griping that tax cuts for the rich would be extended for two years while long-term unemployment aid would be extended for one year. “Grossly unfair,” declared Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. While the liberal wing of President Obama’s party was howling over his decision to negotiate with Republicans — likened to “terrorists” by one Democratic senator last week — conservatives also were grumbling that the president won concessions for Democrats in the process. YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN Politicians Who Own Stakes in Airport Scanner Companies NBA Star Defaults on $1.5M Mortgage Obama Announces ‘Framework’ for Deal With Congress to Extend Bush-Era Tax Cuts Black Market Cigarettes Cost New York $20M a Month Son Allegedly Shot Dead By Father After Stabbing Parents, Cops Say The massive grab bag of proposals have reportedly been totaled to cost anywhere from a half trillion to $1 trillion, in a space of two years. The unemployment aid extension alone is valued at $56 billion — Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, urged her colleagues to revive a plan that would use unspent discretionary money to pay for it, while others questioned the aid’s inclusion entirely. The fallout from Obama’s sudden announcement Monday evening signals that the heavy lifting is not over yet. Congress has until Dec. 31 to avert a sweeping hike on all taxpaying Americans, and the negotiators still have a lot of convincing to do. Whatever coalition opposes this package will likely end up being a mix of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats both disappointed over the ground given to the other side. While House Republican leaders hailed the deal as a win, conservative members had been expressing concern about the extension of long-term jobless aid, which was set at 99 weeks until it started to phase out last month. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., in an interview Monday on Sean Hannity’s radio show shortly before the deal was announced, said that she’s not sure Republicans would support a package that includes the aid extension alongside the tax cuts. “That’d be a very hard vote to take,” Bachmann said, urging lawmakers to divorce the two issues. “I think, again, we’re back in a conundrum.” She backed off her criticism slightly on Tuesday, saying that despite her concerns about the aid extension the compromise “will at least offer a foundation for job creation.” Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, told Fox News the tax cut extension is vital but criticized the jobless benefits and said they should at least be paid for. “We want to make sure we’re dealing more with paychecks and not so focused on unemployment checks,” he said Tuesday, noting that he needs to review the deal more closely. “I’m not initially thrilled about it, and that’s perhaps is what a successful negotiation is all about,” he said. On the other side, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, threatened to filibuster, calling the deal “absolutely wrong” in an interview with MSNBC. Obama accurately predicted that the proposal would be met with sound and fury. “I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don’t like,” he said. But he said he’s not willing to let ordinary Americans become “collateral damage for political warfare in Washington.” Under the proposal, the Bush tax cuts would be extended for two years for all income tax brackets. Long-term jobless aid would be extended through next year so that people who are entitled to 99 weeks now will continue to receive aid. The estate tax rate would be renewed only at a lower rate than the 55 percent it was before the Bush-era cuts. And instead of pushing for an extension of the stimulus act’s income tax cut, the administration wants a one-year payroll tax reduction that would cut the Social Security contribution paid by workers from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. Vice President Biden plans to attend the Senate Democrats’ policy luncheon Tuesday to discuss the plan. A meeting of House Democrats is set for Tuesday evening. Though the White House ultimately wants to convince the base there’s more to like than hate in the new package, the White House may be stoking the fire a bit. After an official was quoted saying the administration was looking for a fight, a senior congressional leadership aide said: “When they want to fight they know how to fight. When they want to cave they know how to blame others.” But a White House official told Fox News this is a better deal than the administration believes it would get a month or two from now, or would have gotten just a few days ago. “Ultimately, there are pieces in here that are big Democratic initiatives,” the official said. The White House will not only have to make that argument to Democrats on the Hill, but to the advocacy groups behind the party. Liberal groups were merciless in their criticism of the Obama administration in the wake of the deal. Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor, co-founders of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, released a statement accusing the president of letting down his voters. “President Obama caved in the name of compromise,” they said, urging congressional Democrats not to “make this same mistake.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/07/bipartisan-heat-obamas-tax-cut-compromise/

Congressional Agenda 11/10

Full agenda as Congress tries to finish year

The president is meeting with Republican leaders on Tuesday and tax cuts are on the agend

By JIM ABRAMS

The Associated Press

updated 11/28/2010 9:29:37 AM ET 2010-11-28T14:29:37

WASHINGTON — The George W. Bush-era tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003 and due to expire at year’s end, will be at the top of agenda as lawmakers arrive in town Monday for the final stretch of the postelection session.

President Barack Obama and most Democrats want to retain them for any couple earning $250,000 or less a year. Republicans are bent on making them permanent for everybody, including the richest.

The cuts apply to rates on wage income as well as to dividends and capital gains. A failure to act would mean big tax increases for people at every income level.

1. Obama has scheduled a meeting at the White House with Republican leaders on Tuesday, and possible options for compromise will be on the table, including providing a temporary extension for the wealthy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has suggested that the Senate hold two votes: one on the Democratic plan confining the tax cut extension to the middle class, the other on Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to extend the cuts to everyone. If both are defeated, as anticipated, then the real negotiations begin.

Congress also has a Dec. 3 deadline to pass a temporary spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The Senate hasn’t passed a single spending bill for the budget year that began Oct. 1. Democrats are working on a catchall $1.1 trillion to fund the government’s day-to-day operations. Republicans, fresh off their election victory, are unlikely to go along.

“If this election showed us anything, it’s that Americans don’t want Congress passing massive trillion-dollar bills that have been thrown together behind closed doors,” said McConnell.

One idea is to fund the government at current levels through February, when the next Congress and its influx of anti-spending conservatives, will deal with the matter.

If the pre-Thanksgiving first week of the lame-duck session is any indication, the chances aren’t good that Congress will accomplish much in the weeks ahead.

The House tried, and failed, to extend federal unemployment checks for the 2 million people whose benefits will run out during the holiday season. Republicans objected, saying the $12.5 billion cost of the three-month extension should be paid for so it doesn’t add to the deficit.

1. The Senate’s main achievement was approval of a long-delayed settlement with black farmers and American Indians who say they were swindled out of aid, subsidies and royalties in past dealings with the government. Under the agreement awaiting House approval, black farmers would receive almost $1.2 billion and American Indians $3.4 billion.

The Senate also postponed, for a month, a 23 percent cut in payments for the government health insurance, Medicare, to doctors; it was to begin on Dec. 1. The House is expected to go along, giving lawmakers time to come up with a longer-term plan to avoid cuts that could prompt doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients.

As early as Monday night, the Senate could pass and send to the House a measure that gives the Food and Drug Administration greater authority to order food recalls and inspect imported food.

The House is to take up a Senate-passed child nutrition bill, which promotes healthier school lunches and has the support of first lady Michelle Obama.

Also on the House agenda is a last-ditch effort by Democrats to show they have not forgotten immigration policy. Legislation known as the Dream Act, which has stumbled once in the Senate, would provide a path to legal status for the children of illegal immigrants who either go to college or join the military.

Also on the to-do list:

—Senate Republicans have blocked a defense bill that would end the military’s ban on gays serving opening. The Pentagon is to release a report on Nov. 30 on how lifting “don’t ask, don’t tell” would affect military operations, and Democrats say they will try again to change the policy.

—Obama says the new START treaty that would reduce nuclear weapons arsenals in the U.S. and Russia is a “national security imperative” and he wants the Senate to hold a ratification vote this year. But a key Republican, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, says the vote should be put off until next year. The addition of more GOP senators in the new Senate will complicate passage.

—Democrats say they want to give the extension of unemployment benefits another shot. One possibility is tying it to the tax cut bill. Democrats could try to portray Republicans as supporting tax cuts for the rich that would cost $700 billion over 10 years while opposing help for the jobless.

—There are numerous other tax breaks, such as for research and development, that need to be renewed. Congress is facing a deadline to shield some 21 million from significant tax increases by adjusting the alternative minimum tax by the end of the year. The cost of that is about $70 billion.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40403335/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

Continuing Bush Tax Cuts

More Than 80 Percent of Americans Say Keeping Bush Tax Cuts a Priority 

Published November 24, 2010

|More than 80 percent of Americans say it is at least “somewhat important” that Congress extend the Bush tax cuts before they expire at the end of this year, according to a poll by Gallup cited in the New York Post on Wednesday.

A stunning 56 percent of Americans also say it is “very important” that Congress do something to prevent the estate tax from going up significantly next year as it is scheduled to do, according to the poll.

Half of Americans say it is “very important” that the rest of the Bush’s tax cuts be extended as well, compared to just 16 percent who say it is not important.

Taxes top the list of important issues Americans want the Democratic-run Congress to address during the lame-duck session between now and the start of next year, when Republicans take control of the House.

Democrats have been divided over how to address the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Some have joined Republicans to demand that all the cuts be extended for all income levels.

But a majority of Democrats and President Barack Obama have been harshly critical of the tax cuts since they were enacted by a Republican Congress and former president George W. Bush.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/24/percent-americans-say-keeping-bush-tax-cuts-priority/

Possible 2012 Presidential Candidates

Washington political insiders tell us that nine Republicans are almost a lock to run and another eight are considering a presidential bid.

Many former presidential campaign organizers say that now is the time to be considering a bid because by spring of next year, the list of announced candidates will be firm and those in will be divvying up staff and raising money.

The top tier of candidates includes many in the news like Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney, but some newbies have scratched their way into the category like budget-slashing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Long shots include some who’ve already made trips to Iowa, like former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

“A starting place. That’s all anybody has,” said Barbour, dismissing talk of front-runners this far out of the election.

Here’s the latest list of those who want President Obama’s job.

The A-Team Nine

- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the front-runner, largely because he was the runner-up to Sen. John McCain in 2008.

- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has recently made a name for herself by endorsing winning Tea Party candidates.

- Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a social conservative in his second term.

- Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a fiscal conservative in his second term.

- Mike Huckabee, a Fox host and former 2008 presidential candidate.

- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

- South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a conservative and darling of the party for defeating former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004.

- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose budget cutting in his first year has impressed many in GOP ranks who want him to apply his touch to Washington.

- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, already running and showing his conservative side.

The Eight Long Shots

- Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, a hero to fiscal conservatives.

- South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a Palinesque conservative who’s helped steer the U.S. Senate to the right.

- Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the gadfly 2008 candidate who kept a very loyal following.

- South Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, who hasn’t even won yet but is being heralded as the new Sarah Palin.

- Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who has rejected a run but who still gets kudos for being the “smart Bush” for his successful two terms in Florida.

- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who’d be the social conservative in the race.

- Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, a foreign policy hawk who conservatives adore.

- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal whose effort to protect his shores from the Gulf Oil Spill won him notoriety lost when he gave a lackluster national political address in 2009.

http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/9/10/at-least-17-republicans-in-2012-presidential-election-field.html

Governor Election Map

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101103/el_yblog_upshot/election-takeovers-transform-americas-political-map

Senate Election Map

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101103/el_yblog_upshot/election-takeovers-transform-americas-political-map