Tag: Democrat

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US Senate votes to extend tax cuts for all but top 2 percent

It was just a little over two weeks ago when President Obama said this:

Obama: “Pass a bill extending the tax cuts for the middle class, I will sign it tomorrow.”

Senate Democrats voted pretty much down party lines Wednesday to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone but individuals making $200,000 or more and couples making more than $250,000. As the LA Times reports:

LA Times: “Democrats believe Wednesday’s action will shift the debate in a Congress … giving momentum to Obama’s proposal – and drawing a contrast with Mitt Romney …”

Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb and Connecticut Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman joined their Republican colleagues in the 51-48 vote which came after a vote to extend tax cuts for everyone was rejected 45-54. On the Senate floor Majority Leader Harry Reid said giving tax breaks to the wealthy would be wasteful.

Reid: “Republicans should not force middle-class families off their fiscal cliff to protect more wasteful giveaways to millionaires and billionaires.”

Interestingly, Vice President Joe Biden presided over today’s vote but due to Senate rules was not allowed to engage the debate. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell drew laughs from his GOP colleagues when he noted that Biden supported extending the Bush tax cuts for everyone back in 2010.

McConnell: “So be grateful, I say to my friend, the vice president — this is a debate that I don’t think you would want to lead.”

The bill is now on its way to the Republican-controlled House where it is expected to be voted down sometime next week. Public Radio International’s Todd Zwillich calls Wednesday’s vote symbolic and says it is really all about the November presidential elections.

Zwillich: “This is what the election is about. It really is about Democrats’ and Republicans’ competing visions for how to re-order income distribution after the election.”

When the Bush tax cuts first expired in 2010, President Obama had also called for ending them for the wealthiest Americans. In the end, GOP opposition resulted in a two-year extension for everyone.

Via Newsy

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Pennsylvania to get first openly gay state legislator

Brian Sims has won a decisive Democratic primary in his Philadelphia district and will become Pennsylvania’s first openly gay state representative.

Sims defeated a longtime incumbent to capture the Democratic nomination in the heavily Democratic District 182, and will face no Republican opponent this November.

Sims, a former member of the Victory Campaign Board, is a distinguished policy attorney and civil rights advocate from Center City Philadelphia. The former Staff Counsel for Policy and Planning at the Philadelphia Bar Association, he recently stepped down as the President of the Board of Directors of Equality Pennsylvania.
(source)

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Highway bill passes in the US Senate with bipartisan support

A two-year, $109 billion measure providing federal funding for the nation’s roads, rails bridges and airports for the next two years passed the Senate on a 74 to 22 vote Wednesday with broad bipartisan support.

The Senate bill’s supporters — Democrats, Republicans, labor unions and business groups — say the bill will help create or sustain almost 3 million jobs, mostly in the construction industry.

Of the 22 Senators who voted against the job creating bill, all were Republican.

Despite Senate passage, the fate of federal transportation funding is unclear in the House. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio)hasn’t ruled out a vote on the Senate bill, but his aides said this week he is still negotiating details with GOP lawmakers.

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Los Angeles Mayor: Democratic platform should include marriage equality

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the chair of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, expressed his support for a marriage equality plank in the party platform in an interview with Politico.

Said Villaraigosa: “I do, I think it’s basic to who we are. I believe in family values and I believe that we all ought to be able to have a family and marry if you want to. I don’t think the government should be in that business of denying people the fundamental right to marry.”

At least 18 senators have expressed support for adding marriage equality to the platform.  Freedom to Marry launched a campaign to that end last month.
(source)

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Sen. Ben Nelson (D) to retire

Two-term Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) has announced his retirement, spurring renewed fears that the Democrats will lose their Senate majority in 2012.

Nelson has consistently been one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, and during the very brief period in 2009 in which the caucus held 60 seats, his was usually the toughest vote to secure. Still, no one should think that he is interchangeable with the mainstream Republican who will likely replace him; Nelson, after all, did eventually vote for the Affordable Care Act, the stimulus bill and numerous other Democratic priorities. The Democrats’ hopes of holding the seat come down, at this point, to the vague possibility that former Nebraska senator and governor Bob Kerrey will attempt a comeback.

In 2012 Democrats will have 23 seats up for reelection. The GOP has only ten.
(via JMG)

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Kathy Hochul wins NY-26 congressional election

Democrat Kathy Hochul has been declared the winner of the special election for the congressional seat in NY-26.

The election seemed to have been flipped on the basis of Hochul’s opposition to changing or “voucher”-izing Medicare.

The rural-suburban district between Buffalo and Rochester is one of the state’s most conservative. But Corwin saw her early lead dissolve after coming out in favor of a Republican budget plan that would cut billions from Medicare, the government health plan for seniors.

With 83 percent of precincts reporting, Hochul had 48 percent of the vote, compared with 42 percent for Corwin.

The seat became vacant in February when Republican Rep. Chris Lee resigned after shirtless photos he sent to a woman surfaced online.

More at HuffingtonPost