House passes president's tax-cut compromise

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...

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 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...

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 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 ...

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...

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 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...

US tax deal, budget feud set stage for 2011 cuts
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. To nations suffering Austerity, it must seem as if Washington has gone mad. First, the U.S. Congress fails to agree on a 2011 Budget. Then lawmakers overwhelmingly pass another giant stimulus. But both events actually hint at some chance of more disciplined fiscal action next year. President Barack Obama will quickly sign the $858 billion stimulus/Tax Cut bill that funds Unemployment Benefits for 13 months and...

Washington Extra Whose bipartisanship?
The feeling appeared mutual when President Barack Obama shook hands with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell after signing the Tax Cut bill. It looked like the picture of what Obama called a “Bipartisan effort.”  McConnell tried not to grin too much over the Republicans winning the war in their efforts to extend tax cuts to the wealthy. But when it came to Capitol Hill Democrats, there wasn’t much display of unity with even Obama, let alone Bipartisanship with the Re...

Last Call
And here's President Obama's reward for working with the Republicans on that Tax Cut deal. The $858 billion tax deal approved by Congress Thursday is "all candy and no spinach," but at least it shows that President Barack Obama and Republicans can cooperate on fiscal issues. But their new detente will be tested early next year when the Budget Deficit looms larger on the political landscape. Analysts are skeptical this week's pact can be leveraged into a broad deficit-cutting program, and fear th...

How Many Jobs Will Obama's Tax Deal Create or Save? At Least One
The $858 billion Compromise tax bill passed the House Thursday at midnight, and is on its way to President Obama's desk. With its passage, his Reelection is more in the bag than ever: The bill will boost GDP and job growth, and if you plug the forecasts for its effects into Yale Professor William C. Fair's economic model -- which has a great record for predicting Presidential Election results -- you get an Obama win in 2012. Here are some key provisions of the bill: Continuation of current fed...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

Holiday tax bill is law _ help for rich and poor
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 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 ...

Grab bag of goodies in Obama's $858-billion tax plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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 on 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 -- prior...

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...

And now what? Life after the tax deal
With the Obama-Republican tax deal having passed the Senate and the House as well, I guess I’ve gotten the Compromise I’ve been asking for. To be honest, I’d thought I’d feel better about it. In short, the tax deal gives both the Republicans and the Democrats the one thing they wanted most. For the Republicans, that one thing was extending the Bush Tax Cuts to everyone, especially protecting those making over $1 million a year in income. I emphasize the protection of thos...

Obama signs tax package, clearing way for tax breaks, bigger paychecks -- and more federal debt
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama on Friday signed the sweeping tax package passed by Congress, the final step in clearing the way for continued Tax Breaks, extended Unemployment Benefits and other incentives aimed at letting you keep and spend more of your money. J. Scott Applewhite, AP President Barack Obama, joined by Republican and Democratic lawmakers, signs the Bipartisan tax package that extends Tax Cuts for families at all income levels, during a signing ceremony at the Eisenhower Ex...

Obama Salutes Compromise, Signs Tax Bill
(WASHINGTON) — 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. "It's a good deal for the American People; this is progress and that's what they sent us here to achieve," Obama said as a rare Bipartisan assembly of lawma...