Obama threatens to veto tax cut extension

[dogtowner]

he says because its an attempt to score political points

as is so often the case, its he who is trying to score points. the House managed to do it without raising taxes or go into debt. apparently not an option for Obama.

The White House said Tuesday it will veto a payroll tax cut extension being prepared by House Republicans, with President Obama insisting the bill also must raise taxes on the wealthy rather than cut government spending.
In a statement of policy, the White House said the bill, which the House will vote on later Tuesday, is a Republican effort at politics rather than a compromise deal.
"This debate should not be about scoring political points. This debate should be about cutting taxes for the middle class," the statement said.
Republicans say they have given Mr. Obama everything he wants in the bill, including an extension of this year's payroll tax cut, additional limited unemployment benefits and a continuation of full payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.
But rather than imposing a tax increase to offset the costs, as Democrats wanted, the Republican proposed a freeze on spending for federal salaries.

not to be outdone, Harry Reid is needlessly sitting on an omnibus spending bill vote already acceptable to all as a trick to force the House to stay in session and (try to) reduce heat on th3e Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is holding a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill hostage to win leverage in a separate fight over taxes, GOP lawmakers claimed Tuesday.
The GOP members said Reid is ordering Democratic conferees on the spending bill to not sign off on a deal so that he can keep the House in session to work on legislation extending the payroll tax backed by President Obama.
The House is set to vote on their version of the payroll bill on Tuesday, but Senate Democrats oppose the measure.


If the omnibus moved forward, the House could move its payroll bill and the omnibus and leave town, leaving it up to the Senate either to approve the GOP payroll tax cut bill or to let it die. This would put Reid and Senate Democrats in a tough position, since they could get the blame for letting the tax cut expire.
But by holding up the omnibus, Reid could keep both chambers in town until a compromise is reached on the tax bill, since neither party wants to risk a government shutdown.
If Congress does not approve either the omnibus bill or a continuing resolution to keep the government funded by Friday, most of the government would shut down.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters that for the past six weeks, GOP and Democratic conferees in the House and the Senate have worked hard to produce an agreement on the omnibus. He called on Senate leaders to "come to their senses" and let the Democrats sign the final product.

and as if that were not enough, the guaranteed job creator pipeline can't happen to appease the green lobby. Mr Obama needs to explain why those 20,000 jobs can't be allowed to happen. And why the states involved are to be denied the benefit.