Daily Political Wire 12-3-2010

George Wenschhof

House Votes to Censure Rangel - after two years of political wrangling and spending 2 million to defend himself, Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) was censured yesterday by a vote of 333-79 for ethics violations. He will now have to stand in the well of the House and have the censure read to him in front of his colleagues. The NY Times has more here.

---

Obama "Working Group" readies compromise plan on tax extension - the House voted yesterday to extend the "Bush tax cuts" only for those making $250,000 or less, a mostly symbolic move as the votes are not there to pass it in the Senate.

The next moves expected to be played out are a series of votes put forward by Democrats in the Senate, which are all expected to fail, including one by Charles Schumer (D-NY) to extend for all earning less than one million.

The compromise to come from the working group is expected to be an extension of all the Bush tax cuts for two years in exchange for a one year extension of unemployed benefits for the long term unemployed along with some other tax credits put in place by President Obama. The Washington Post has more here.

This agreement, if passed by congress, puts this issue out in front in the 2012 presidential election.

Senate and House passes continuing resolution until December 18 - the move keeps the government running until then. Negotiations continue to pass a continuing resolution until the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2011). Look to see this also be the date when an agreement is reached to extend the "Bush tax cuts".

---

Meanwhile, Unemployment Hits 9.8% - an unfortunate figure coming at the end of the year and right before the Christmas holiday. Bloomberg.com has more here.

For two years, I have been calling for a federally funded public service employment program. I wonder what it will take for the president and congress to realize it is pass due to be implemented.

---


Deficit Reduction Panel to Vote on Proposal Today - when the bipartisan committee was appointed by President Obama, the deal was if 14 of the 18 members signed off on the proposal to lower the national debt, then the congress would vote on it.

A high threshold of over 75% approval needed seems designed to ensure an agreement would not be reached. 11 of the 18 members are expected to vote in agreement with the proposed plan today. TheHill.com has more here.

The question will now be, "where do we go from here"?

---

To receive "Daily Email Updates" from Air-it-Out with George Wenschhof, click on "Subscribe to this feed" below, or use the sign up box located in the upper right hand margin