Press Staff Blog
A look at today’s headlines shows that Republicans are deeply divided and scrambling to find support for Speaker Boehner’s partisan highway bill. Instead of following the Senate’s lead and working with Democrats on a bipartisan path forward, Republican leadership insists on moving forward with a partisan bill that lacks support among their own Members – forcing Speaker Boehner to “punt” on the bill and throwing the process into disarray:
Just a quick note for Speaker Boehner: When it comes to your behemoth of a highway bill, the problem is your policies, not the process. Republicans are scrambling to split the bill into parts to make it more palatable to Republicans already skeptical of the measure, but that won’t change the fact that the bill destroys 550,000 jobs, bankrupts the highway trust fund by 2016 and leaves our roads and bridges woefully underfunded.
Democrats are committed to ensuring that every eligible voter has access to the ballot and remain vigilant when it comes to efforts by Republican lawmakers in several states to impose new barriers to voting. Here’s a helpful roundup of some recent articles on cases of voter suppression around the country:
Over 400 days have gone by since House Republicans took the majority, and they still haven’t put forward a comprehensive jobs plan. So, what did they do today?
If you thought they talked about creating jobs and growing our economy, think again. Instead, they held a meeting to discuss their message once again:
With the House set to take up a massive surface transportation bill next week, we here in the Democratic Whip Press Shop wanted to catalog the opposition to Speaker Boehner’s 1,000 page behemoth of a bill. While highway bills have traditionally been bipartisan endeavors, the only thing bipartisan about this bill is the overwhelming opposition to it. Facing criticism from all sides, the bill is threatening to veer off the road before it even hits the Floor.
Republican lawmakers don’t like the bill:
It’s fascinating to watch Republicans try to hide their opposition to tax cuts for middle class families.
House Republicans claim to be focused on jobs and economic growth, but a new analysis by economist Mark Zandi shows that walking away from middle class tax cuts and unemployment insurance could cost our economy 500,000 jobs, raise the unemployment rate by at least 0.3%, and lower economic growth by 0.7%:
Wanted to be sure you saw this editorial in today’s NY Times on Republicans’ willingness to play political games and put middle class tax cuts at risk for 160 million Americans once again:
NY Times
The Payroll Tax Fight
Wanted to be sure you saw this Politico article today highlighting Republican division over extending middle class tax cuts. One would think that they had learned their lesson after walking away from 160 million Americans in December, but apparently not. With less than a month to take action, it looks like Republicans are willing to put middle class tax cuts at risk once again:
This Groundhog Day, the American people may be feeling a sense of Déjà vu. House Republicans are once again gearing up to push their wildly unpopular plan to end the Medicare guarantee and raise costs for seniors. And like Bill Murray in a certain movie, they might find themselves reliving the same painful scenario over and over again.
As The Washington Post’s Plum Line Reports: