After all the handwringing and some delaying tactics by progressives in the House, Obama’s tax cut deal passed the U.S. House last night 277-148.
Because the package that passed the House is identical to the version that passed the Senate earlier this week, the bill will head directly to the White House for Obama’s signature.
House Democratic leaders had planned to tie a bow around the Obama tax cuts early this afternoon. But a bloc of angry progressives scuttled that plan. In a move that surprised aides and members, they temporarily derailed a key procedural measure required to pass the bill. The tactic was meant to register their disapproval with the legislation, and the terms of the debate, both of which were designed without their input.
Ultimately, several more amendments to the bill were allowed to be voted on. One changed the estate tax portion of the bill slightly, which failed. One underreported story will be how the Tea Partiers are already betrayed – only 36 Republicans voted against the bill in the House. Most of the no votes came from progressives.
But the bulk of progressives ultimately voted against the underlying bill. It passed with the support of a coalition of Republicans — most of whom supported the compromise — and Democrats — some of whom supported it, and others of whom agreed to vote for it to break the gridlock. In the end 139 Democrats (a majority of the caucus) and 139 Republicans voted yes; 112 Democrats and 36 Republicans voted no.
BTW, Kucinich voted for the bill. Castle voted yes.
I’ll add a note here. I don’t love this bill but I understand what Obama is doing. He decided the unemployment extension and additional stimulus was more important than ending the tax cut orgy for the rich at this time. This sets up another fight for later. Now is the time to start the next fight. Let’s not wait again until it’s too late. It starts now. Keep communicating with legislators on why it is so important to end the payroll tax holiday next year and to make sure that the tax cuts expire as scheduled. Make it the political winner it should be and you should have no problem convincing people to vote your way. This means persuasion.