House clears tax-cut bill, on to Obama

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...

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 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...

What the Tax Deal Means to Your Wallet
The pressure is off -- at least for now. With the Bush-era Tax Cuts extended for all Americans for at least the next two years under the law signed today by President Obama, government leaders have managed to postpone some tough decisions to be made surrounding the U.S. tax code until 2012. The law has been labeled “Compromise” Legislation, and for good reason. In exchange for the tax-cuts extension, Republicans agreed to extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. They als...

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...

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...

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...

Krauthammer ♥ 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 nonetheless managed to ...

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...

Obama salutes spirit of compromise, signs tax bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 compromise bill extending tax cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed an $858 billion tax bill he negotiated with Republicans. The package extends Bush-era Tax Cuts for two years, including Tax Rates for the wealthy that Obama had vowed to let expire. The deal includes a 13-month extension of jobless benefits for the out-of-work, and a nearly one-third cut in Payroll taxes that finance Social Security. Displaying a new style of compromising, the president invited Democrats and Republicans alike to the Whi...

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...

The tax deal's biggest losers
It's easy to declare the winners in the new tax bill, but let's not forget the unluckiest of them all -- those who have been jobless for 99 weeks. Now is just not the time for higher taxes. That's the message delivered by President Obama's tax deal, an $858 billion package that will extend Tax Breaks enacted under former president George W. Bush. The bill will prevent taxes from rising on New Year's Day for virtually every American household. What's more, it will create major incentives for bus...

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...

What the Tax Deal Means to Your Wallet
The pressure is off -- at least for now. With the Bush-era Tax Cuts extended for all Americans for at least the next two years under the law signed today by President Obama, government leaders have managed to postpone some tough decisions to be made surrounding the U.S. tax code until 2012. The law has been labeled “Compromise” Legislation, and for good reason. In exchange for the tax-cuts extension, Republicans agreed to extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. They als...

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...

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...

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...

Reps. Paul Ryan, Chris Van Hollen Talk Policy, Politics; Justice Stephen Breyer on New Book
VAN HOLLEN: Yeah. WALLACE: I understand that you want to say, "Well, it's them blocking it," but the president has made a deal with Republicans. You're the odd man out -- you, the House Democrats. VAN HOLLEN: Well, the president made a deal with the Senate Republicans. WALLACE: Right. VAN HOLLEN: There's no doubt about that. As somebody who was involved in the official talks, not the back-channel discussions, I know -- and to the credit of the Republicans, they did not say that this better deal ...

Unhappy union leaders get their turn with Obama
WASHINGTON — Two days after business executives had their turn at the White House, President Obama met with union leaders fuming about his decision to extend the George W. Bush-era Tax Cuts for wealthy Americans. Union officials declined to offer much in the way of details about the talks, but the White House has been concerned about the harsh criticism from union leaders, and the meeting was seen as an effort to get the relationship back on track. “We had a good conversation with P...

For President Obama, signing tax-cut bill makes for a good day after a bad election
A month ago President Obama was the big loser of 2010, the leader whose party had given up historic losses in the House and who was facing questions about his future. On Friday, with the stroke of his pen on a Compromise tax bill, he reminded his adversaries of the essential resilience of the occupant of the Oval Office. Whether the Compromise proves to be a fleeting moment of Bipartisanship or the beginning of a genuine turnaround in Obama's political fortunes won't be known until well into ...

Obama signs tax-cut legislation
President Obama on Friday signed the bill that extends the George W. Bush-era Tax Cuts, while Congress moved to wind up its lame-duck deliberations in a session marked by the changing nature of politics and power. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Obama again defended his Compromise, worked out with Republicans. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was prominent at the ceremony, as was Vice President Joe Biden, who bargained with the Republican leader "This is real money that is going to mak...

Obama signs 'big win' tax bill (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama Friday savored "a big win" just six weeks after his rebuke by mid-term election voters, signing a 858-billion-dollar tax law after a contentious deal with Republicans. The White House meanwhile also expressed confidence that two other priority agenda items -- the Repeal of a ban on gays serving openly in the Military and a new nuclear pact with Russia would also soon win Senate backing. "The Legislation... is a substantial victory ...

Lame-duck sessions supposed to be a thing of the past, historians say
Here's the funny thing about this month's lame-duck session of Congress, in which frantic lawmakers have pinballed from Tax Cuts to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to a Nuclear Weapons treaty: It's not supposed to exist. In 1933, historians say, the country ratified a Constitutional Amendment intended to kill off sessions like this - in which defeated legislators return to legislate. The headline in The Washington Post at the time was "Present Lame Duck Session Will Be Last." Bu...