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Senate passes fiscal cliff bill, 89-8

NAYs —8

Bennet (D-CO)
Carper (D-DE)
Grassley (R-IA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Lee (R-UT)
Paul (R-KY)
Rubio (R-FL)
Shelby (R-AL)

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Bipartisan

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 8:15 AM

Clink on January 1, 2013 at 8:17 AM

This.

Also, burn the House phone lines. Tell them we don’t want this at all. Better no deal than a bad deal.

BigGator5 on January 1, 2013 at 8:20 AM

Actually it’s probably 95 since the 3 Dems probably voted against it because it didn’t tax everyone making more than $25,000 a year:)

Clink on January 1, 2013 at 8:20 AM

There were also 3 non-votes: DeMint, Kirk, and Lautenberg.

Stoic Patriot on January 1, 2013 at 8:21 AM

Rand and Rubio voted against. They’ve already started the ’16 game. Lol

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 8:26 AM

Rand and Rubio voted against. They’ve already started the ’16 game. Lol

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 8:26 AM

Yeah, but I actually believe Rand.

Dongemaharu on January 1, 2013 at 8:32 AM

The bill includes wind tax credits. We are having to give a lot for nothing really that great. Just let the taxes go up, really won’t help to take this deal other than quit holding hostage the bush tax cuts. Liberals would get hit pretty hard by losing the state and city income tax deduction. It would hurt them more than us. No time will be further from the next election then now anyways. Add in the fact that the incumbent usually loses seats and it seems like a safe bet to let it burn.

ArkyDore on January 1, 2013 at 8:43 AM

So Johnson in WI voted for it, after railing against the tax increase earlier in the day?

changer1701 on January 1, 2013 at 8:50 AM

Rand and Rubio voted against. They’ve already started the ’16 game. Lol

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 8:26 AM

I can’t say that I care much why they voted against it but it was the right vote. This “deal” is a sick joke and nothing but a continuation of the left’s and their Indonesian Dog-Muncher’s class war. Those who voted for this POS can all go straight to hell, where they belong.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 1, 2013 at 8:53 AM

This deal is no deal. It fixes nothing that is wrong.

Makes me wonder how things will go on “gun control” …

They should have taken the heat and let everyone feel the pain. Well, those that aren’t government dependents.

I heard Obama has been reading Chavez’s book again…looking for ways to fine tune Chavez’s pointers.

ProfShadow on January 1, 2013 at 9:02 AM

Boehner’s Plan B suer looks good now.

Dont complaim about tax hikes. The Dems were perfectly happy to let the Bush cuts expire and raise taxes on every single American.

The GOP had a weak hand. The yahoos in the House over-playedd it.

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:05 AM

@swamp Yep, you’re right. Most here would disagree with you, but a few of us knew what was coming when Plan B was shot down by the House yahoos. On the other hand, this deal is better than any Oblabla middle class tax cuts. That would have been worse.

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 9:13 AM

negotiators have agreed to raise the top income tax rate from 35% to 39.6% on individuals earning more than $400,000 and married filers earning above $450,000. They will also see their dividends and CapGains tax rates go up to 20%. In addition, the Death Tax, which should be completely abolished, will increase from 35% to 40% on all assets above $5.12 million. There will be a permanent AMT patch as well, as if there already wasn’t one anyway.

What about the spending side? Here are the spending increases:

■A $30 billion one-year extension of Medicare doc fix
■A $30 billion one-year extension of 73 week unemployment insurance. Over the past four years, the federal government has collected roughly $192 billion in federal unemployment payroll taxes, while paying out $510 billion in benefits. Evidently, that’s not good enough.
■Stimulus Refundable Tax Credits: Somehow, a 5-year extension of Obama’s stimulus refundable tax credits got inserted into the deal. So he calls a tax cut a handout, and a handout a tax cut. These latter three provisions alone will easily top $100 billion a year, dwarfing the $50-$60 billion in static revenue projections from the tax cuts on the rich. So much for a balanced approach.
■Green Energy Pork: The irony is that while the rich earned every penny of their money, Obama refers to the current system – one in which the top 1% pay 37% of the taxes – as a handout to the rich. Yet, this deal extends a true handout, the 2.2 cent per kilowatt/hour wind Production Tax Credit. This is a refundable credit that can be claimed by any wind company that fails to generate a profit, of which there are many. In addition, all special interest credits passed out of the Senate Finance Committee – the real loopholes in the tax code – are included in the deal.

Dan Horowitz at RedState.

Wethal on January 1, 2013 at 9:16 AM

Boehner’s Plan B suer looks good now.

Dont complaim about tax hikes. The Dems were perfectly happy to let the Bush cuts expire and raise taxes on every single American.

The GOP had a weak hand. The yahoos in the House over-playedd it.

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:05 AM

No they didn’t you blithering idiot. You seem to forget the fact that things won’t change AT ALL in America until voters start reaping the consequences of their actions. Until Americans are brought face to face (up close and personal) to the failures of the entitlement face.

You can’t effect change unless Americans feel pain.

If – at the end of the day – it appears to most Americans that it is the DIMS that are the cause of their hardship – their voting patterns will change.

However, Boehner’s “Plan B” Bull$hit – simply gave GOP cover to the Dims – which isn’t gonna change anything.

These “yahoos” you speak of – are the only people voting on PRINCIPLE. These are the ONLY people who want Washington DC to change and live within it’s means.

The time for compromise is over – you’ve been foolishly doing it for a half century in your precious GOP and all it’s done is push this nation increasingly to the LEFT.

Take your big government and put it up your arse swamp yankee. Tell David Frump and David Brooks and all the rest of your liberal Republican friends that change is coming – one way or the other.

HondaV65 on January 1, 2013 at 9:19 AM

Boehner’s Plan B suer looks good now.

No, it doesn’t. It still looks like the turd it is.

Dont complaim about tax hikes. The Dems were perfectly happy to let the Bush cuts expire and raise taxes on every single American.

If taxes are going to go up on anyone then they should go up on everyone. There’s nothing to be gained from helping the dems and their Indonesian wage their class war on America.

The GOP had a weak hand. The yahoos in the House over-playedd it.

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:05 AM

Incorrect. The House GOP finally did what they had to do. They should have turned down a bunch of the other ridiculous “deals” that the Weeper had colluded with Barky and the dems on over the past two years – such as allowing those miserable America-haters to continue on with their unbudgeted, un-Constitutional, insane spending and to keep raising the debt limit for NOTHING …. well, they did get this brilliant Sequester as the return for raising the debt limit last time, to allow Barky and the Dems to spend free-as-birds all through the election … the Sequester that they’re all running away from now as if some evil space aliens had dropped it in their laps just a few weeks ago.

The House GOP had better shoot this latest POS down, too. If the dems want to push it across with help from a few commies in the GOP, good for them, but no one with any decency or more than two brain cells would vote for this.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 1, 2013 at 9:21 AM

Boehner’s Plan B suer looks good now.

Dont complaim about tax hikes. The Dems were perfectly happy to let the Bush cuts expire and raise taxes on every single American.

The GOP had a weak hand. The yahoos in the House over-playedd it.

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:05 AM

I don’t think they’re yahoos, but yes, they did overplay the already weak hand they had when they shot that down. It would’ve been ignored by Reid, but at least it could’ve served as the basis for an agreement and possibly ensnared fewer Americans with a tax hike (i.e. instead of the million dollar threshold, settling for $750,000…not good, but still better than the one that passed the Senate).

changer1701 on January 1, 2013 at 9:22 AM

@swamp Yep, you’re right. Most here would disagree with you, but a few of us knew what was coming when Plan B was shot down by the House yahoos. On the other hand, this deal is better than any Oblabla middle class tax cuts. That would have been worse.

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 9:13 AM

You’re playing the “short game” … just as the GOP Ayatollah’s are playing. You aren’t playing the “long game” – and that’s the game that will change this nation and restore liberty and freedom – and responsible government.

I dare say – you guys on the left of the GOP are the stupidist fools in the universe. You’ve compromised with Dims for 50 years and it’s only pushed this nation farther to the left with each passing year. You keep running liberal squishes for President and they keep getting their asses handed to them by the democrats.

You guys aren’t very smart – you don’t learn when you’re burned.

Which is why most of us here don’t do anything more than ridicule your opinions.

HondaV65 on January 1, 2013 at 9:23 AM

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:05 AM

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 9:13 AM

You forget why we are in this predicament to begin with; the god awful 2011 Debt Ceiling “Deal”, which Boehner & the GOP Establishment eagerly pushed for. Most of these ‘yahoos’ you deride saw the writng on the wall back then.

Debating whether a “deal” at this point is “better” or “worse” is just meaningless blabber.

Norwegian on January 1, 2013 at 9:25 AM

at least it could’ve served as the basis for an agreement and possibly ensnared fewer Americans with a tax hike (i.e. instead of the million dollar threshold, settling for $750,000…not good, but still better than the one that passed the Senate).

changer1701 on January 1, 2013 at 9:22 AM

The goal never should have been to “ensnare” the fewest Americans in a tax hike.

Hell man – if we had gotten the kind of tax hikes that Obama was proposing – what do you think would have happened to the voting patterns of Americans? Do you think they would go to the polls next time and say … “More please?”. You will not start winning elections until you’ve proven yourself correct to the electorate – and you will only do that by giving them the dimmocritic policies they seem to want right now.

Why are you guys like a bunch of frogs boiling in a pot? You always want the least amount of pain. Increased taxes on those making $1M plus today means that next year you’ll compromise again and levy those taxes on those $400K and above – and the next year – everyone will be paying them.

Get it over with NOW dude.

HondaV65 on January 1, 2013 at 9:28 AM

@honda Simple question: Which deal was better- Plan B or the present one? That should give you the logical answer, instead of the constant whining.

tommy71 on January 1, 2013 at 9:30 AM

I swear, some people still dont really understand this fight.

With the expiring tax cuts, tax cuts were already going up on every single American. And if the GOP does nothing, the public perception, ggreased by Obama and all his free press time, his inanaugural and state of the union, will be that the GOP allowed this to happen.

Every struggling Joe-Six Pack out there who really isnt that political, but may lean Right will be cursing the GOP for letting taxes rise on struggling families.

Stop the stupid grandstanding. Too many idiots are running things in the conservative blogosphere. GBet your head out of your arses and look at the reality of the situation.

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:36 AM

Here is what the House should do;
NOTHING

Until the Senate passes a budget, Nothing.
Do not vote for a single item. Fiscal Cliff – No.
Debt Limit Increase – No
Confirmation Hearings – No
Shut the whole thing down until the Senate and the President does their Constitutional Mandated Duties.

Explain it to the American people exactly what you are doing and why, let the Dems take the heat.
NOTHING until we get a budget.

D-fusit on January 1, 2013 at 9:37 AM

The Tea Party sulkers – that’s what they look like.

Cant get their way, so they prefer to vote to let taxes rise on every single, struggling, hard working American.

Stuck in their isolated little internet Tea Party echo chambers. Oblivious to the fact that most voters dont give a crap about ideology

Just perpetually acting like babies and bitter old men.

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:40 AM

It would have passed with zero Republican votes. Which is how it should of been.

Dasher on January 1, 2013 at 9:42 AM

Why didn’t Lee, Rubio, or Paul filibuster?

huckleberryfriend on January 1, 2013 at 9:49 AM

swamp_yankee on January 1, 2013 at 9:40 AM

LOL. Your dem allies are going to pass exactly what you are hoping for. Be happy. And you get to scream “Eat the rich!” along with them. That’s what you want, after all. Stop complaining, already.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 1, 2013 at 9:57 AM

Fiscal Cliff Deal: $1 in Spending Cuts for Every $41 in Tax Increases

Be aware it has an auto start video.

BallisticBob on January 1, 2013 at 10:02 AM

I heard Obama has been reading Chavez’s book again…looking for ways to fine tune Chavez’s pointers.

ProfShadow on January 1, 2013 at 9:02 AM

Yup. May the new year bring That One the same kind of health that Chavez is enjoying. ;)

Mr. Prodigy on January 1, 2013 at 10:04 AM

Bold, fresh leadership from McConnell…again!

SouthernGent on January 1, 2013 at 10:26 AM

did they not do this backward. All spending must originate in the house. As the left say that tax cuts are spending and pork speeding is spending. Did they do a loophole and take a house bill to name a post office or something and add this bill to it thus it originated in the house and then was amend it with taxes cut spending and plan spending. It was important in Obamacare and tax angle.

tjexcite on January 1, 2013 at 10:54 AM