The vote would come even as bipartisan negotiations about extending the expiring Bush-era tax cuts for all earners continue on Capitol Hill. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Wednesday that a vote was an opportunity to make progress on an issue that lawmakers agree on.
Taxes are set to go up for all income levels on Jan. 1 if Congress doesn’t extend the George W. Bush-era breaks. President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats want them extended only for those making $250,000 a year or less; Republicans want tax cuts extended for all.“I don’t know of anybody in the House of Representatives who wants to see next year middle-income working Americans’ taxes increase,” Hoyer said. “Not one.”
Rep. John Boehner, the incoming House speaker, stuck to Republicans’ script on Wednesday.
“To help our economy get back to creating jobs, we need to cut spending and stop all the tax hikes scheduled for January 1st,” he said in a statement. “The last thing our economy needs right now is a job-killing tax hike on small businesses, and that’s what Democratic leaders’ plan would mean.”
Democrats control the House until the new Congress is sworn in next month, so the middle-class-only extension could easily pass in at least one chamber. But it would face a tougher time in the Senate, where Republicans now control 41 seats, enough to deny Democrats a filibuster-proof majority.
Meanwhile, negotiations got underway on Capitol Hill Wednesday about breaking what Obama called the tax-policy “logjam.” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said the meeting was “a very civil, constructive discussion.”
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