How have Republicans used the “mandate” they received from the tea party and petulant swing voters last month? They have, as the president said, held the middle class hostage in order to extend the tax break for millionaires, despite the fact that the tax cut has not spurred job growth in the ten years it has been around, that it turned the Clinton surplus into deficits in the last decade, and that it will add another $700 billion to the deficit over the 10 years.
Meanwhile, while they have voted down bills that would benefit the middle class because they claim to be worried about, yeah, you guessed it, the deficit. On Friday, Republicans in the House voted against a tax break just for the middle class. Democrats were able to pass the bill in the House without Republican support, but Republicans killed it in the Senate. Yesterday, Republicans in both the Senate and the House voted down a payment to replace the Social Security COLA increase:
House and Senate Republicans on Wednesday thwarted Democratic efforts to award $250 checks to Social Security recipients facing a second consecutive year without a cost-of-living increase.
President Barack Obama and Democrats have urged approval of the one-time payment, saying seniors barely getting by on their Social Security checks face undue hardships without the COLA increase.
But most Republicans contended that the nation couldn’t afford the estimated $14 billion cost of the payment, and that the COLA freezes in 2010 and 2011 come after seniors received a significant boost in 2009.
The measure was brought up under a fast-track procedure in the House that required a two-thirds majority for passage. The 254-153 vote in favor of the bill fell short of that.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the financial aid was critical to seniors facing rising costs and falling home values and was fiscally responsible. “But unfortunately,” she said, “congressional Republicans overwhelmingly chose to oppose it.”
Twenty-six Republicans voted for the bill, while 141 opposed it. Democrats were in favor, 228-12.
Later, the Senate voted 53-45 on a measure to bring the Social Security supplement bill to the Senate floor for debate. That was seven short of the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation.
Tea party candidates, including incoming Sen. Ron Rand Paul of Kentucky, campaigned on killing Social Security and replacing it with private pensions tied to the stock market.
Incoming Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Not Ron Paul, not RuPaul, Not Mrs Pauls. Rand.