Republicans Filibuster Payroll Tax Cut

Posted on December 2, 2011 at 12:12 pm by Bob Cesca

Disgusting bastards. The Republicans actually voted to raise taxes on working Americans by filibustering an extension on the president’s payroll tax cut.

The cloture vote was 51-49 with two Democrats (Tester and Manchin) joining the Republican filibuster.

So everyone earning a paycheck just received a tax hike — by the Republicans of all people, who claim to hate tax hikes (they clearly don’t).

Of course, the filibuster occurred on the same day when anti-tax godfather Grover Norquist gave the Republicans his blessing to raise taxes.

Oh, and the Republicans have their own payroll tax cut plan. It’s a peach.

The Republicans have offered an alternative plan, sponsored by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), which would extend the payroll tax cuts for one year, paid for by a freeze in federal workers’ pay together with weeding out more federal jobs.

Yep, the only way they’ll do it is to fire more American workers and freeze the salaries of everyone who isn’t fired. When unemployment is nine percent, they want to fire more Americans who have mortgages and debt and kids. Disgusting bastards.

The tally:

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  • Ned F

    And forced a threat of government shutdown to extend the Bush tax cuts. I have no idea how they can spin this in their favor.

  • http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

    But hey, Norquist told them that a tax hike on the middle class doesn’t count as a fucking tax hike. Unfreaking real.

    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/12/01/380129/norquist-gop-middle-class-ta/

    Adding……sorry, Bob. Just saw that you had included a mention of Norquist in your post.

    • GrafZeppelin127

      Of course they got the blessing from the Grand Nagus. I believe it’s the 287th Rule of Acquisition: “A tax cut is only a tax cut if it’s enacted by Republicans,” and its corollary, “A tax increase is not a tax increase if Republicans are responsible for it.”

      • http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

        :)

  • Draxiar

    How do these “people” continue to get elected? It would not surprise me in the least if society rises up to go all Louis XVI on the waste of life the Republican Party has for members. I’m tired of thinking these folks have mothers and fathers that worry about them.

    They have no respectable morals, no empathy, and no sense of community as a country. Foolishly I kept hoping they would do the right thing…my hope for them is gone.

    I hope Santa puts coal in their stocking.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rick-Janes/607039439 Rick Janes

      No wonder Frank Luntz is scared to death. He’s trying to find euphemisms to cover up the Versailles court prior to the French Revolution. When do the Republicans just start running over the 99 Percent in their cars and leaving them to die? (Oh, wait — that already happened at some OWS protests.) This time around it’s not ‘let them eat cake’ it’s ‘let them eat fake.’

    • villemar

      The only good Republican is a completely powerless Republican.

      • http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

        Amen.

  • Camel54

    I obviously don’t agree with the Republican nonsense, but I don’t think a pay freeze is the end of the world. I, and most everyone I know in the private sector, have been stuck without a raise for at least the last year. Many of the people I know whose jobs depend on commission and other goals have actually seen decreases.

    And no I don’t think it’s right that the lowest paid workers (with the best benefits packages) should have to take the hit for the team. I’m just saying a pay freeze is pretty low on my list of things to get worked up about. Firing public employees during a recession on the other hand is near the top.

    • desertflower1

      President Obama already FROZE the wages of FED workers…I think it was set to expire this month.What Republicans want to do, is freeze FED pay for 5 more years AND cut 10% of the workforce….putting more people out of work! Doesn’t look “not so bad” now, does it?

  • mrbrink

    A lot of dumb and dishonest people already believe and repeat the lie that President Obama has raised their taxes.

    Now they can prove it. “Taxes have gone up under Obama!”

    See? They knew it all along.

    What are they gonna do when we’re talking about a president Xavier Becerra in 2016?

  • agrazingmoose

    Scott Brown just sealed his fate as a losing incumbent in MA.

  • Marianna76

    You forgot St Bernie Sanders. He voted with the Republicans too.

    • http://mdblanche.myopenid.com/ mdblanche

      The bill was only 99 and 44/100% pure. No way a saint would sully his hands with something like that.

  • nellcote

    BTW Saint Bernie Sanders voted against both bill too.

  • mrbrink

    According to Sen. Sanders on Thom Hartmann yesterday, this would have diverted $265 billion away from the Social Security trust fund. He said that when you do this for two years in a row, and to continue to do it, and to rely on the government to replenish the fund from the treasury, is a path to ending “the beauty of social security” insomuch as it is funded independently by the payroll tax, and that it is not another “government program.”" So when you make SS dependent more and more on general funds, it becomes another government program making it more likely to be cut in years ahead and eventually converted into a welfare program.”

    That’s a prime reason why Republicans supported it. Slow death of Social Security and Medicare is their idea of progress.

    The reason they did not support this is they need the president to fail to have any credibility after crashing the economy on purpose and revealing they have no fucking clue what they are talking about anymore, and they’ll use the most vulnerable Americans among us as hostages in their sadistic little game of blood sport politics. All in the name of being a good conservative republican. Do whatever you have to do to defeat the uppity colored. “We said he was a failure and would destroy the country… now make it happen! Everyone’s watching!”

    The fact that the working poor are facing the threat of a tax increase and the fact that this relief isn’t being sought by raising taxes on capital gains, or eliminating the SS payroll tax cap to extend to income over $106,000, or cutting defense subsidies, or a thousand other more humane and equitable ways– is just too sick and demented anymore to even consider.

    Alex Rodriguez made $32 million in 2011. He is only taxed on his first $106,000.

    Everyone knows how to pay for tax relief for the working poor so that the working poor can afford their own safety net and have it when they need it(which should be much earlier than it is right now). To suggest we have to pay for it with safety net insurance funds is a fucking wealth sucking scam worthy of a million man, woman, and child march on the floor of the NYSE. A public seizure of public assets and common wealth in the name of economic justice.

    We know what the deal is. A small minority of wealthy individuals and multi-national corporations are not paying their fair share. They’re taking more, even while they hold their current line in the battle for more, and more, and more.