Senate Democrats will soon release a bill to counter massive cuts from the looming sequestration. In short the bill will institute a minimum tax rate for millionaires and eliminate some tax subsidies, specifically those subsidizing crop insurance for large farms, a program the CBO says will cost upwards of $90 billion over the next decade.
Predictably, the Senate’s much criticized minority leader Mitch McConnell, has come out against the proposed bill saying,
Their whole goal here isn’t to solve the problem, it’s to have a show vote that’s designed to fail, call it a day, and wait for someone else to pick up the pieces. The days of 11th hour negotiations are over. Washington Democrats may have gotten used to Republicans bailing them out of their own lack of responsibility. But those days have passed.
One must wonder after a statement like this, in what reality Mr. McConnell is currently residing. The leading Republican senator, as with much of his party are out of touch with much of the country, but these comments do trigger many other questions. What pieces does he think Republicans have picked up? What problems have congressional Republicans contributed to solving over the past 4 years of the Obama presidency? What has the Party done to improve the economic recovery from the Great Recession?
It seems the current crop of GOP has done more to hinder any progress or provide substantive fixes to economic problems facing the U.S. As many are now aware of the infamous 2009 inaugeral eve strategy meeting of conservative insiders where the path of obstructionism was set for next 4 years. Obstruct everything, even their own ideas. Yet, now the country has a Senate leader laying the blame and results of this obstructionism squarely on the shoulders of their colleagues across the aisle.
While not a wholly unique tactic, are we bearing witness to the implementation of a new strategy to lay fault for anything upon the Democrats’s shoulders with no heed paid to the real situation? If this is the Republicans’ approach to politics for the ensuing years to play alongside their attempts to repair their faltering image, the party membership should prepare itself for some more head scratching losses after the 2014 mid-terms.
Read more on the Democrats’ bill and Senator McConnell’s response;
Democrats to unveil bill to replace budget cuts
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Tagged: budget, Congress, Democrats, Mitch McConnell, Opinion, Politics, Republicans, Senate, sequestration, Spending cuts, Taxes
