Tax Cut Punt?

Posted by JHW22

So the recent thing "to die" is the whole Bush tax cut thingy. Have I mentioned I hate the hyperbole of "it's dead"? I mean, how many times did the public option die? And it's not even fully dead, only partially dead, because there is a revival bill. But I digress... Democrats are mad at Pelosi and Reid for punting the Bush tax cut extension for the middle class/extermination for the really, really rich people until after the election when the fear is we won't have as many seats as we do now (as if having the number of seats we have now is a good thing). Everyone is all wee-wee'd up (and I SWEAR to you Obama used that expression before Palin did so I am keeping it in my repertoire) over the tax cut punt (I must add that trying to say that out loud and even type it is hard -- some word other than cut seems to want to come out). But I always say, "there's a reason".

And there is. Well, there are many. But for this post I want to raise just one. Obama's 2011 Budget. Unless my Googling is getting stale, I am pretty sure Congress hasn't approved Obama's budget via their resolution process for next year. If it has been approved, great, but I can't find where it has been given the okay.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the reason Congress isn't rushing into a cock fight (yes, I said cock) is because if they could just get that danged budget passed, many of the beloved tax cuts would become permanent and become Obama's and this Congress'. Perhaps, just perhaps, the idea is to get that damn thing passed and then say "Ha! We don't need no stinkin' Bush. We have our own tax cuts and they are better!" (Yes, I said Bush). If Health Care Reform is called Obamacare in the pejorative, why would we want to continue to call tax cuts Bush's? And in the same vein, we should call the tax "increase" the Bush Tax Increase since they were designed to increase by the Bush era players. (I pointed that out to someone today and was accused of "blaming". I pointed out that stating fact is informing, not blaming.)

My intertubes are hurting from trying to confirm if the budget passed or not. So if you have the answer, I'd really sleep better tonight. Now, if they haven't approved it yet, does anyone think it's either really tricky of the Dems to wait until the last minute? OR does anyone else wonder why the F^%$ his budget was presented in February and is STILL not approved?!

I should probably add that even though I was only going to pose one possibility, I have to say that a few of those things Republicans have wanted by way of the Bush cuts WERE signed into law today via the Small Business Jobs Act of 2011. Oh but watch the spin on the right over that one.