Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Tax-Cut Package, 81-19
Alex Wagner
White House Correspondent
Posted:
12/15/10
By a vote of 81 to 19, the Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the tax-cut compromise struck between President Obama and senior members of the Republican Party. Despite protestations of many congressional Democrats, the House is expected to vote on the bill later Wednesday evening or perhaps Thursday, where it is likely to be approved. Obama has said he would sign it into law later this week.
The vote in the Senate nearly mirrored one earlier in the week, which ended debate on the bill and cleared a way to final passage. The 19 dissenters were Jeff Bingaman (R-N.M.), Tom Coburn (D-Okla.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore).
Brought to the floor by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid late last week, the bill contains a significant package of extensions and cuts to 2010 tax rates. As Obama outlined when the deal was first brokered, the bulk of the bill is dedicated to extending the expiring Bush tax cuts for all income levels, but only for the next two years -- not permanently, as most Republicans called for.
In addition to extending the cuts, the deal also temporarily trims the 6.2 percent payroll tax to 4.2 percent for all workers and extends unemployment benefits for 13 months for Americans out of work, up to 99 weeks. Most objectionable to liberal Democrats, the bill also sets the estate tax at 35 percent for estates valued at more than $5 million, well below the 45 percent rate on estates over $3.5 million that most Democrats had been pushing for.
Prior to the vote, several senators introduced last-minute amendments to the bill. Sanders put forth one amendment that would have eliminated the tax cuts for upper-income earners making more than $200,000 per individual and $250,000 per family (and made permanent the cuts for the remaining 98 percent of Americans). Sanders proposed that the resulting tax revenues be directed toward infrastructure investment and reducing the federal deficit, though the amendment failed, largely on partisan lines.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has voiced her opposition to the Senate-approved deal, and on Tuesday House Democrats emerged from a late-night caucus expressing anger with the White House over the estate tax provision in the bill. Despite this outcry, the House is expected to go forward with a vote on the bill in the next 24 hours. The Senate is next expected to take up the new START treaty, while the House will move forward on a stand-alone repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military.
The vote in the Senate nearly mirrored one earlier in the week, which ended debate on the bill and cleared a way to final passage. The 19 dissenters were Jeff Bingaman (R-N.M.), Tom Coburn (D-Okla.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore).
Brought to the floor by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid late last week, the bill contains a significant package of extensions and cuts to 2010 tax rates. As Obama outlined when the deal was first brokered, the bulk of the bill is dedicated to extending the expiring Bush tax cuts for all income levels, but only for the next two years -- not permanently, as most Republicans called for. In addition to extending the cuts, the deal also temporarily trims the 6.2 percent payroll tax to 4.2 percent for all workers and extends unemployment benefits for 13 months for Americans out of work, up to 99 weeks. Most objectionable to liberal Democrats, the bill also sets the estate tax at 35 percent for estates valued at more than $5 million, well below the 45 percent rate on estates over $3.5 million that most Democrats had been pushing for.
Prior to the vote, several senators introduced last-minute amendments to the bill. Sanders put forth one amendment that would have eliminated the tax cuts for upper-income earners making more than $200,000 per individual and $250,000 per family (and made permanent the cuts for the remaining 98 percent of Americans). Sanders proposed that the resulting tax revenues be directed toward infrastructure investment and reducing the federal deficit, though the amendment failed, largely on partisan lines.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has voiced her opposition to the Senate-approved deal, and on Tuesday House Democrats emerged from a late-night caucus expressing anger with the White House over the estate tax provision in the bill. Despite this outcry, the House is expected to go forward with a vote on the bill in the next 24 hours. The Senate is next expected to take up the new START treaty, while the House will move forward on a stand-alone repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military.