House Resumes Debate on Tax-Cut Bill

Dionne: Krauthammer Heart Obama
As someone who savors the ironies of life and politics, I have gotten a kick out of seeing my conservative colleague Charles Krauthammer emerge -- temporarily, no doubt -- as the Obama White House's favorite columnist. For two weeks running, he has argued how brilliant Obama's Tax Cut deal is, how he swindled Republicans in Congress, and how he has immensely strengthened his hand for the 2012 election. "Holding no high cards," Krauthammer wrote today of the president, "he nonet...

Obama applauds bipartisan cooperation as he signs tax cut deal
• Extends Bush-era Tax Cuts on income, capital gains and dividends for all Americans for two years. • Extends Unemployment Benefits for 13 months for the long-term unemployed. • Cuts Social Security Payroll taxes 2 percentage points for a year. • Caps the top Estate Tax rate at 35 percent for next year, after an exemption of $5 million per person. WASHINGTON • With an end-of-year deadline bearing down on them both, President Barack Obama and Senate Republican Leader...

President Obama signs tax deal, accompanied by GOP leader
WASHINGTON — With an end-of-year deadline bearing down on them both, President Barack Obama and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell put auld acquaintance behind them on Friday, standing before television cameras together as their sweeping Tax Cut Compromise became law. The president’s signature on the bill means the George W. Bush tax cuts will continue for two years, rather than expiring at midnight on New Year’s Eve under the old law. But whether the moment foretells a s...

Obama signs tax-cut bill, hails the compromise as progress
WASHINGTON — President Obama signed into law a huge tax package extending cuts for all Americans yesterday, saluting a new spirit of political Compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from Tax Cuts for Millionaires and the Middle Class to longer-term help for the jobless. The most significant tax Legislation in nearly a decade will avert big increases that would have hit millions of people two weeks after New Year’s Day. “We are here with so...

New Jersey Senators divided over tax cut extension
On Wednesday, December 15, 2010, the United States Senate voted 81-19 overwhelmingly in favor of extending the temporary Tax Cuts put in place by former President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003.  President Barack Obama urged the United States Congress to agree with the Tax Cuts being extended after he brokered a deal with the Republican leaders in the Senate.  However, New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg did not vote in favor of the tax cut extension brokered by President Obama while ...

Obama salutes spirit of compromise, signs tax bill
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political Compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from Tax Cuts for Millionaires and the Middle Class to longer-term help for the jobless. The most significant tax Legislation in nearly a decade will avert big increases that would have hit millions of people starting in two weeks on New Year's Day. Decla...

Controversial tax measure signed
WASHINGTON — President Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax measure extending cuts for most Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political Compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from Tax Cuts for Millionaires and the Middle Class to longer-term help for the jobless. The most significant tax Legislation in nearly a decade will avert big increases that would have hit millions of people starting New Year's Day. "We are here with som...

President Obama signs law that extends jobless checks
Tens of thousands of unemployed workers in Massachusetts won’t have to worry about their jobless benefits being cut on Christmas. President Obama yesterday quickly signed into law a massive tax-compromise bill that includes funds to extend emergency benefits for millions of the nation’s unemployed. As a result, as many as 60,000 Massachusetts residents will get benefits checks this Holiday Season, rather than seeing them cut on Christmas Day, as many had feared might happen due to p...

Tax Cuts for Everyone
A $858 billion tax-cut package is headed to President Barack Obama for his signature after the House passed the bill by a 277-148 vote a few seconds before midnight Thursday. The Legislation extends all of the Bush-era Income Tax cuts, which were scheduled to expire December 31, for two years. It also gives workers a one-year Payroll Tax cut and extends emergency Unemployment Benefits for 13 months. The package, which was negotiated between Obama and congressional Republicans, also extends tax...

Class Warfare
Dec 27, 2010, Vol. 16, No. 15 • By PETER WEHNER Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Democrats are enraged at President Obama for his decision to extend George W. Bush’s Tax Cuts for all Americans, including top income earners. What explains their anger? It cannot be because of concern for the Deficit. After all, Democrats are responsible for an unprecedented two-year spending binge (the United States spent $1.3 Trillion more over the last two-year period...

Obama Seals the Tax-Cut Deal
President Barack Obama this afternoon signed into law the $858 billion tax-cut bill that he negotiated with Republicans earlier this month. Compared with Obama’s previous signing ceremonies for major Legislation, it was a subdued affair. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn’t standing by the president’s side with a big smile on her face—in fact, the San Francisco Democrat wasn’t even at the signing, which was held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, not the White House. S

Obama salutes spirit of compromise, signs tax bill
President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political Compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from Tax Cuts for Millionaires and the Middle Class to longer-term help for the jobless. The most significant tax Legislation in nearly a decade will avert big increases that would have hit millions of people starting in two weeks on New Year's Day. Declared Obama: "We are...

Pelosi: Tax Cut Legislation Gives Middle-Income Families Fairness and the Economic Opportunity to Create Jobs - Rep. Pelosi
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in support of the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010, which passed the House by a Bipartisan vote of 234 to 188. Below are the Speaker’s remarks. “Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman [Mr. Levin] for yielding. I commend him for his great leadership in terms of working and being a champion for America’s Working Families, for America’s middle-income families who need so...

Spinning the tax deal
Could the tax deal help President Obama bounce back from a self-described electoral shellacking? This Story West Wing Briefing: Spinning the tax deal Bush-era Tax Cuts extended Wonkbook: What went right and what went wrong in Congress U.S. tax policy's future: Key players in the showdown View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story Six weeks after his party took a drubbing at the polls that seemed to portend trouble for Obama in 2012, the agreement that was approved in Congr...

Obamas Learning Curve
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Let’s stipulate that President Obama is one smart dude. Everyone says so. “Obama is one of the most articulate and intelligent men ever to have been president,” historian Alan Brinkley wrote recently in Democracy. Soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner agrees. “I think he’s engaging,” Boehner said of Obama on 60 Minutes. “Certainly smart. Brilliant.” But more than brainpower, there̵...

Obama signs tax cut bill
Published: Dec. 17, 2010 at 5:18 PM U.S. President Barack Obama signs the middle-class Tax Cut bill in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House in Washington on December 17, 2010. Behind him are members of his administration and Members of Congress. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Friday signed Legislation that extends Bush-era tax cuts for two more years and gives the unemployed 13 months more of benefits. The measure ...

Business Highlights (AP)
___ Obama salutes spirit of Compromise, signs tax bill WASHINGTON (AP) _President Barack Obama saluted a new spirit of political compromise Friday as he signed into law a huge tax bill extending cuts for all Americans — including benefits for the rich that he and congressional liberals had denounced — along with billions of dollars in help for the Middle Class and jobless workers. The package retains Bush-era Tax Rates for all Taxpayers, from the working poor to the wealthiest. It ...

Obama Signs Extension of Bush Tax Cuts
From the Associated Press: President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political Compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from Tax Cuts for Millionaires and the Middle Class to longer-term help for the jobless. The most significant tax Legislation in nearly a decade will avert big increases that would have hit millions of people starting in two weeks on New Year&...

Obama signs tax-cut bill in White House ceremony - Glenn Thrush and Abby Phillip
President Barack Obama celebrated the spirit of Compromise Friday as he signed a Controversial $858 billion tax-cut and Unemployment Insurance extension into law — but warned that Bipartisan comity could be fleeting. The bill, the result of a deal Obama cut with Senate Republicans over the objections of many Democrats, was a major victory for a White House that spent much of the past two years battling a unified GOP on the stimulus and Health Care reform. Continue Reading Text Size - ...

Obama salutes spirit of compromise, signs tax bill
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama signed into law a huge, holiday-season tax bill extending cuts for all Americans on Friday, saluting a new spirit of political Compromise as Republicans applauded and liberals seethed. The benefits range from Tax Cuts for Millionaires and the Middle Class to longer-term help for the jobless. The most significant tax Legislation in nearly a decade will avert big increases that would have hit millions of people starting in two weeks on New Year's Day. Decla...

Grab bag of goodies in Obama’s tax plan
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama’s $858 billion tax package is a grab bag of goodies for investors, the affluent and workers, but the richer you are the more you get. Congress passed the bill after Liberal Democrats lost their bid to make it less generous to the wealthy, and Obama signed it into law Friday. There is something in the bill for virtually every Taxpayer. Low and moderate income workers see a Payroll Tax cut, and expansion of a Tax Credit for Working Families — priorit...

Grab bag of goodies in Obama’s tax plan
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama’s $858 billion tax package is a grab bag of goodies for investors, the affluent and workers, but the richer you are the more you get. Congress passed the bill after Liberal Democrats lost their bid to make it less generous to the wealthy, and Obama signed it into law Friday. There is something in the bill for virtually every Taxpayer. Low and moderate income workers see a Payroll Tax cut, and expansion of a Tax Credit for Working Families — priorit...

President Obama signs tax cut deal into law
Here's video of President Obama Friday afternoon, signing his Tax Cut deal into law and hailing it as a Bipartisan victory for middle-class families: Full transcript below the fold, but here's a snippet: This Bipartisan effort was prompted by the fact that Tax Rates for every American were poised to automatically increase on January 1st. If that had come to pass, the average middle-class family would have had to pay an extra $3,000 in taxes next year. That wouldn’t have just been a blow t...

Four House members from Va. voted against tax compromise
Four members of Virginia's House delegation — two Democrats and two Republicans — voted against the tax-cut Compromise late Thursday night. Voting against the package were Reps. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-3rd; J. Randy Forbes, R-4th; James P. Moran, D-8th; and Frank R. Wolf, R-10th. The seven Virginia House members voting in favor of the measure were Reps. Robert J. Wittman, R-1st; Glenn Nye, D-2nd; Tom Perriello, D-5th; Robert W. Goodlatte, R-6th; Eric Cantor, R-7th; Rick Boucher, D...

Obama, labor in fence-mending session
Published: Dec. 17, 2010 at 10:33 PM U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., after signing the Tax Cut bill in Washington, Dec, 17, 2010. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama, meeting Friday with leaders of the biggest U.S. unions, told them he still wants to be their partner as he negotiates with Republicans. Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO, said both the labor group and the president discussed areas...