The GOP’s Payroll Tax Fiasco
The Wall Street Journal
12/21/2011
GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.
The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play.
Republicans have also achieved the small miracle of letting Mr. Obama position himself as an election-year tax cutter, although he’s spent most of his Presidency promoting tax increases and he would hit the economy with one of the largest tax increases ever in 2013. This should be impossible…
…At this stage, Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly. Then go home and return in January with a united House-Senate strategy that forces Democrats to make specific policy choices that highlight the differences between the parties on spending, taxes and regulation. Wisconsin freshman Senator Ron Johnson has been floating a useful agenda for such a strategy. The alternative is more chaotic retreat and the return of all-Democratic rule.
Read the entire article at The Wall Street Journal.
Related: Top Republicans Turn On Boehner, Call On House To Pass Senate Payroll Tax Cut Bill
Also, Co-opting Republican issue, Obama experiences slight rebound
Update: House Republicans Cave, Agreeing To Senate’s Two Month Extension Of Payroll Tax Holiday
Update 2: But earlier today, Boehner Asks White House to Negotiate on Payroll Tax Cuts… Obama Declines
