It is time to replace the GOP leadership in both Houses of Congress as both Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have proven once again that they are unable to deal with Obama and lead the Party. Again and again, even when in positions of strength, they get sucked into failed negotiations and compromises with the Democrats and deals they sell as wins for our side are handed back to us with a smirk and a laugh by the President as he violates our Constitution and his own promises and sticks a knife in the backs of the American people and gives it a hearty twist to boot. The President is going to add another $1.2 trillion dollars of debt on the backs of the People and has killed the desperately needed jobs and energy cost relief that the Keystone XL pipeline would have provided the American people. He’s actually doing a better job helping the economy of China than he is here at home where millions of our own citizens are suffering. Wake up America before it’s too late.

Yesterday, Roll Call published an article suggesting that Harry Reid has had quite an auspicious year as Majority Leader.  They observe the fact that Reid has won a larger percentage of cloture votes this year than in 2010, even though his caucus has been diminished from 59 senators to 53:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid managed to win more than half of the filibuster-breaking votes on the Senate floor in 2011, besting his success rate from the previous year.

Of the 32 cloture votes pushed by the Nevada Democrat this year, Reid won 19, or 59 percent. He lost 13 cloture votes.

That comes after hitting a success rate of 54 percent in 2010, when he won 28 cloture votes and lost 24. Sixty votes are needed to cut off debate and kill a filibuster, or invoke cloture.

Reid’s majority shrunk from 59 Senators in 2010 to 53 in 2011, increasing the number of Republicans needed to vote with the majority of Democrats in order to reach the 60-vote threshold.

I’ll be the first person to tell you that Senate Republicans have capitulated too much this year; however, that is not the primary reason for Harry Reid’s successful cloture record.  His high degree of success this year is more a symptom of a do-nothing Senate than a successful rate of filibuster-busting on the part of Reid.  In fact, there have been very few actual filibusters this session, and the few that were mounted were successful.

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Yesterday, Roll Call published an article suggesting that Harry Reid has had quite an auspicious year as Majority Leader.  They observe the fact that Reid has won a larger percentage of cloture votes this year than in 2010, even though his caucus has been diminished from 59 senators to 53:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid managed to win more than half of the filibuster-breaking votes on the Senate floor in 2011, besting his success rate from the previous year.

Of the 32 cloture votes pushed by the Nevada Democrat this year, Reid won 19, or 59 percent. He lost 13 cloture votes.

That comes after hitting a success rate of 54 percent in 2010, when he won 28 cloture votes and lost 24. Sixty votes are needed to cut off debate and kill a filibuster, or invoke cloture.

Reid’s majority shrunk from 59 Senators in 2010 to 53 in 2011, increasing the number of Republicans needed to vote with the majority of Democrats in order to reach the 60-vote threshold.

I’ll be the first person to tell you that Senate Republicans have capitulated too much this year; however, that is not the primary reason for Harry Reid’s successful cloture record.  His high degree of success this year is more a symptom of a do-nothing Senate than a successful rate of filibuster-busting on the part of Reid.  In fact, there have been very few actual filibusters this session, and the few that were mounted were successful.

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If the traditional description of the political parties wasn’t evident enough before the payroll tax/UI kerfuffle, it certainly is now: Democrats are evil and Republicans are stupid.  Democrats are evil for insidiously driving up the deficit, perpetuating unemployment, lying about Social Security and passing short-term unworkable Social Security tax holidays for political gain.  Republicans are stupid for a) having Mitch McConnell as Senate Leader and b) coming back to fight the evilness… but then failing to fight it.  They should have outflanked the Democrats on the tax cut and waged a separate battle over Unemployment Insurance (UI).  Instead they begged Democrats to come to conference with them, a losing proposition from day one.

Undoubtedly, there is a lot of blame to go around, with the lion’s share going to Mitch McConnell.  However, the important thing is to forge a strategy going forward into next year.

While everyone is focused on the payroll tax part of the deal, Democrats are quietly getting what they wanted vis-à-vis the UI program.

We were all aghast with indignation last year when we found out that an unprecedented 99 weeks of UI was inserted into the deal that extended the Bush taxes.  We kicked ourselves for allowing that travesty to pass and promised never to let it happen again.  Unfortunately, GOP leaders waited until it was too late to formulate a coherent principled stance against the entire premise of extending UI welfare.  They made a compromise to extend the long-term benefits, but gradually reduce eligibility by 40 weeks.  And, by George, it would be paid for.

Well, now that we foolishly agreed to tie UI benefits to the payroll tax issue, the fate of the UI extension is inexorably tied to the fate of the payroll tax cut.  Consequently, we will get the full 99 weeks in perpetuity…and it won’t be paid for.  If we were like Democrats, who put political gain ahead of country, we might be cheering the ancillary fact that this deal will help perpetuate unemployment and hamper Obama’s reelection efforts.  Another ancillary benefit of this payroll tax brouhaha is that Democrats will have no leg to stand on when they try to let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Unfortunately, ancillary benefits are all we have from this deal.

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If the traditional description of the political parties wasn’t evident enough before the payroll tax/UI kerfuffle, it certainly is now: Democrats are evil and Republicans are stupid.  Democrats are evil for insidiously driving up the deficit, perpetuating unemployment, lying about Social Security and passing short-term unworkable Social Security tax holidays for political gain.  Republicans are stupid for a) having Mitch McConnell as Senate Leader and b) coming back to fight the evilness… but then failing to fight it.  They should have outflanked the Democrats on the tax cut and waged a separate battle over Unemployment Insurance (UI).  Instead they begged Democrats to come to conference with them, a losing proposition from day one.

Undoubtedly, there is a lot of blame to go around, with the lion’s share going to Mitch McConnell.  However, the important thing is to forge a strategy going forward into next year.

While everyone is focused on the payroll tax part of the deal, Democrats are quietly getting what they wanted vis-à-vis the UI program.

We were all aghast with indignation last year when we found out that an unprecedented 99 weeks of UI was inserted into the deal that extended the Bush taxes.  We kicked ourselves for allowing that travesty to pass and promised never to let it happen again.  Unfortunately, GOP leaders waited until it was too late to formulate a coherent principled stance against the entire premise of extending UI welfare.  They made a compromise to extend the long-term benefits, but gradually reduce eligibility by 40 weeks.  And, by George, it would be paid for.

Well, now that we foolishly agreed to tie UI benefits to the payroll tax issue, the fate of the UI extension is inexorably tied to the fate of the payroll tax cut.  Consequently, we will get the full 99 weeks in perpetuity…and it won’t be paid for.  If we were like Democrats, who put political gain ahead of country, we might be cheering the ancillary fact that this deal will help perpetuate unemployment and hamper Obama’s reelection efforts.  Another ancillary benefit of this payroll tax brouhaha is that Democrats will have no leg to stand on when they try to let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Unfortunately, ancillary benefits are all we have from this deal.

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Mitch McConnell‘s minion are in full on spin mode trying to blame Speaker of the House John Boehner for botching the payroll tax cut extension. The only person who deserves any blame is Mitch McConnell. In this, the first deal he pretty much single handedly negotiated with the Democrats, he not only screwed up, but proved he has no freaking clue how to get the economy growing again.

The House has postponed a vote on the matter but members of the House are in open rebellion about it. In exchange for the Keystone Pipeline, which would probably make the President veto the whole thing anyway, the GOP would go for a two month extension of the payroll tax cut and raise fees on mortgages permanently.

Note the last bit. McConnell was okay raising fees on the American people permanently to offset a two month payroll tax cut. And it would not just raise fees on mortgages, it would, in effect, perpetuate the sad, sick cycle of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac controlling the mortgage industry with no reforms to either.

McConnell now wants us to know this is all John Boehner’s fault and John Boehner had intended to go along with it. Except that comes as news to plenty of people in the House. There is a larger point, though, that is being ignored.

Mitch McConnell negotiated a two month extension of the payroll tax cut and businesses in America, particularly small businesses, need to plan for a full year. The GOP has blamed Obama and the Democrats for “uncertainty” in the economy and Mitch McConnell sought to exacerbate that uncertainty playing political games with a payroll tax cut.

To compound the stupidity of it all the deal cannot even be implemented by most businesses in America. Mitch McConnell, who supposedly is on the side of job creators, seemingly has no clue how this payroll tax cut would affect businesses and clearly did not understand its implications enough to know just how wholly unworkable it is.

In other words, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate has become such a creature of Washington, he like the Democrats we fight, knows not a darn thing about how to get Washington out of the way of the job creators or, worse, he does not care.

Mitch McConnell‘s minion are in full on spin mode trying to blame Speaker of the House John Boehner for botching the payroll tax cut extension. The only person who deserves any blame is Mitch McConnell. In this, the first deal he pretty much single handedly negotiated with the Democrats, he not only screwed up, but proved he has no freaking clue how to get the economy growing again.

The House has postponed a vote on the matter but members of the House are in open rebellion about it. In exchange for the Keystone Pipeline, which would probably make the President veto the whole thing anyway, the GOP would go for a two month extension of the payroll tax cut and raise fees on mortgages permanently.

Note the last bit. McConnell was okay raising fees on the American people permanently to offset a two month payroll tax cut. And it would not just raise fees on mortgages, it would, in effect, perpetuate the sad, sick cycle of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac controlling the mortgage industry with no reforms to either.

McConnell now wants us to know this is all John Boehner’s fault and John Boehner had intended to go along with it. Except that comes as news to plenty of people in the House. There is a larger point, though, that is being ignored.

Mitch McConnell negotiated a two month extension of the payroll tax cut and businesses in America, particularly small businesses, need to plan for a full year. The GOP has blamed Obama and the Democrats for “uncertainty” in the economy and Mitch McConnell sought to exacerbate that uncertainty playing political games with a payroll tax cut.

To compound the stupidity of it all the deal cannot even be implemented by most businesses in America. Mitch McConnell, who supposedly is on the side of job creators, seemingly has no clue how this payroll tax cut would affect businesses and clearly did not understand its implications enough to know just how wholly unworkable it is.

In other words, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate has become such a creature of Washington, he like the Democrats we fight, knows not a darn thing about how to get Washington out of the way of the job creators or, worse, he does not care.

The Senate-passed payroll tax cut extenders package was already on the ropes with House Republicans over the weekend.  The bill (HR 3630) offers a pathetic two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.  In addition, it extends long-term unemployment benefits for the ninth time, along with the annual Medicare doc fix.  The bill gutted all House-passed reforms to medicare and unemployment insurance, while offsetting the cost through phantom revenue increases generated through Freddie and Fannie.  Reliance on these fees for spending offsets will actually make it more difficult to close down these harmful entities.

Today, we are discovering two more problems with the Senate package:

1) Earlier today, Senators Brown, Heller, and Lugar blasted House Republicans for holding up the short-term deal.  “There is no reason to hold up the short-term extension while a more comprehensive deal is being worked out,”cried Heller.  Well, here is a good reason.

Aside for the obvious vices of a two-month payroll tax extension, this tenuous law will make life difficult for providers of payroll processing services.  Section 101 of the legislation establishes a new Social Security Taxable Wage limit of $18,350.  All wages in excess of $18,350 for January and February will be taxed at the old rate of 6.2%.  This provision was inserted in order to preclude those with high incomes from meeting their full payroll tax obligation during the first two months.  Such an eventuality would create a disparity in which middle-income earners, who would still incur a payroll tax liability after February, would pay a higher rate (6.2%) on the rest of their income than high-income earners would have to pay.  Many high-income earners receive large bonuses at the beginning of the year, and Democrats were not about to let them take advantage of this short-term payroll tax cut.

Now, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), a trade association representing payroll processing companies, is charging that this provision is untenable.  Such a drastic change would force payroll processors to implement significant changes to their program software.  In a letter sent to the chairmen of the tax-writing committees obtained by Jake Tapper, NPRC’s president warns that there is not enough time to implement these changes before January.

A full 12-month extension would obviate the need for this wage limit, thereby sparing payroll processors the two-month headache.  Unfortunately, Senator Brown excoriated House Republicans for fighting the Senate bill, calling their “plan to scuttle the deal to help middle-class families” “irresponsible and wrong.”  The only thing irresponsible and wrong was his vote for an inane two-month extension.

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The Senate-passed payroll tax cut extenders package was already on the ropes with House Republicans over the weekend.  The bill (HR 3630) offers a pathetic two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.  In addition, it extends long-term unemployment benefits for the ninth time, along with the annual Medicare doc fix.  The bill gutted all House-passed reforms to medicare and unemployment insurance, while offsetting the cost through phantom revenue increases generated through Freddie and Fannie.  Reliance on these fees for spending offsets will actually make it more difficult to close down these harmful entities.

Today, we are discovering two more problems with the Senate package:

1) Earlier today, Senators Brown, Heller, and Lugar blasted House Republicans for holding up the short-term deal.  “There is no reason to hold up the short-term extension while a more comprehensive deal is being worked out,”cried Heller.  Well, here is a good reason.

Aside for the obvious vices of a two-month payroll tax extension, this tenuous law will make life difficult for providers of payroll processing services.  Section 101 of the legislation establishes a new Social Security Taxable Wage limit of $18,350.  All wages in excess of $18,350 for January and February will be taxed at the old rate of 6.2%.  This provision was inserted in order to preclude those with high incomes from meeting their full payroll tax obligation during the first two months.  Such an eventuality would create a disparity in which middle-income earners, who would still incur a payroll tax liability after February, would pay a higher rate (6.2%) on the rest of their income than high-income earners would have to pay.  Many high-income earners receive large bonuses at the beginning of the year, and Democrats were not about to let them take advantage of this short-term payroll tax cut.

Now, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), a trade association representing payroll processing companies, is charging that this provision is untenable.  Such a drastic change would force payroll processors to implement significant changes to their program software.  In a letter sent to the chairmen of the tax-writing committees obtained by Jake Tapper, NPRC’s president warns that there is not enough time to implement these changes before January.

A full 12-month extension would obviate the need for this wage limit, thereby sparing payroll processors the two-month headache.  Unfortunately, Senator Brown excoriated House Republicans for fighting the Senate bill, calling their “plan to scuttle the deal to help middle-class families” “irresponsible and wrong.”  The only thing irresponsible and wrong was his vote for an inane two-month extension.

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Over the weekend, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans obviated the superior leverage of House Republicans by passing a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut, along with a clean extension (no reforms and offsets) of doc fix and unemployment benefits.

In a premature capitulation, they agreed (89-10) to amend the House extenders bill by eliminating most of the spending offsets, all of the UI reforms and the policy riders, with the exception of the Keystone pipeline provision.  They will fill in the $33 billion two-month gaping budget hole with nebulous revenue increases from higher Freddie/Fannie mortgages over ten years.  To the extent that those revenues will be actualized, this deal will indeed make it harder to shut down these officious venture-socialist enterprises.  The Senate action was akin to grounding into a triple play for Team GOP, yet the underlying bill passed with unanimous consent.

Yes – we can already see the ecstatic pronouncements emanating from the McConnell Republican echo chamber.  “We got the pipeline,” they will exclaim.  But here is the problem: the ship already sailed on that.  This issue was such a political liability for Obama that, despite his rhetoric, it was a foregone conclusion he would be forced to cave on it.  He was not going to allow this to become an albatross around his neck during the election.  Accordingly, the White House is lending enthusiastic support to McConnell’s Senate-passed extension.  Besides, due to loopholes in the Keystone provision, the administration is already balking at compliance with the language of the bill.

This is all about understanding your leverage; something that has been lost on GOP leaders throughout the year.  And speaking of leverage, this capitulation has totally undermined the superior leverage of House Republicans.

Until Saturday, the House was the only body that had proposed a workable solution to preempt a tax increase on every American worker.  The Democrats had been on the run for the entire week.  Sadly, in his last act of the year, McConnell, in what appears to be a unilateral move, has launched a drive-by preemptive assault on the House-passed proposal.  Was he in such a rush to get home?

Now House Republicans are incensed, and for good reason.

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