Press Staff Blog

Wanted to make sure you all saw this NPR article debunking the GOP claim that the millionaires surtax would place an undue burden on job creators. So who exactly is doing the debunking? The very millionaires the GOP is currently trying to protect at all costs.

In the House Republicans’ weekly meeting yesterday, Speaker John Boehner reportedly told his members: “The big prize is 2012.”

A look at this morning’s headlines shows Republicans are divided over whether Congress should extend the payroll tax holiday. And to think, all this time we thought they were the Party of tax cuts. While they have no problem uniting around tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, they’re struggling to find support for putting more money back in the pockets of middle class families and boosting our economy:

Today, during colloquy, Leader Cantor said:

“The bar is pretty low when it comes to fixing big problems… Let's look to see how we can come together in an incremental way.”

While economists, business leaders and a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate are urging Congress to work together on a big, balanced deal to reduce the deficit, it’s unfortunate Leader Cantor is writing off the idea of going big.
 

According to NBC’s First Read, Speaker Boehner ducked on the issue of extending unemployment benefits before they expire at his weekly press conference this afternoon:

“House Speaker John Boehner (OH) said he was unsure of the impact on the economy if Congress doesn't extend unemployment insurance benefits and a payroll tax holiday on the agenda for lawmakers this month.”

As Republicans continue their drive to protect tax breaks for the wealthy at all costs, they are firm in their conviction that said tax breaks will actually create jobs.

However, according to an op-ed in Bloomberg by venture capitalist and admitted “very rich person” Nick Hanauer; “an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator that I have ever been or ever will be.”

Wanted to be sure you saw this Washington Post article on GOP efforts to add burdensome new hurdles to the regulatory process and undermine consumer protections. And contrary to Republican claims, there’s no evidence that rolling back these protections will grow our economy or help put more Americans back to work:

Wanted to flag this quote for you as you all work on your year-end legislative business stories. Even Rep. Jack Kingston acknowledges the leverage House Democrats have in keeping controversial policy riders out of remaining appropriations bills: