According to Hoyer the House bill will include a statement that would make the tax breaks a permanent feature. The bill would include tax breaks for the middle class, married couples, a child tax credit and an earned income tax credit.
Republicans want more
Republican members, however, say that the tax breaks do not go far enough. They are proponents of extending tax breaks to the wealthy. They released statements at the same time as Hoyer stating that fairness dictates that the tax breaks should be extended for all Americans, including those earning more than $250,000 a year.
The Republicans have already threatened to gridlock Congress as it heads into it lame-duck session. The lame-duck session is the time, such as right now, before the newly elected members are sworn in to the House and Senate. They have said that they will block all legislation until the tax cuts, known as the “Bush-era tax cuts,” are extended.
The tax cut the Republicans are fighting so hard for were first created in 2001 and then in 2003. They were put into effect by President George W. Bush. They expire on December 31, 2010. Republicans insist that letting the tax cuts lapse will hurt business and prevent an increase in job hiring across the country.
Democrats, meanwhile, argue that extending the cuts will cost the American economy $700 billion. Their claims is that such a cost would be fiscally irresponsible.
Negotiations about the tax cuts actually got started on Wednesday. Hoyer stated that he felt a vote on the middle-class tax cuts would not delay the negotiations currently under way over the broader tax cuts. Republicans, however, seem unmoved by that argument and insist that they will not budge or vote on anything until the Bush-era tax cuts are extended.
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