Votes Aimed to Embarrass Opponents Fill Congress Calendar

Source: Bloomberg News

Votes Aimed to Embarrass Opponents Fill Congress Calendar
By Kathleen Hunter - Apr 15, 2012 11:00 PM CT

In offering up a Buffett Rule proposal for a vote today, Senate Democrats are following a pattern of measures designed to raise taxes for millionaires and end tax breaks for oil companies just as Republicans have sought votes to speed a Canadian oil pipeline.

All the votes have one thing in common -- they are doomed to fail while yielding fodder for campaign ads. Party leaders are seeking an edge by forcing the other party to defeat a popular measure ahead of the November election, which will determine control of the White House and Congress.

“Even if you can’t make a law, you can still make a point,” John Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in California, said in a telephone interview. Campaign workers “are watching these roll calls very carefully and preparing for attack ads,” he said.

President Obama and congressional Democrats are casting their call for higher taxes for top U.S. earners as one of fairness and support for the middle class. With 53 votes in the 100-member Senate, Democrats lack the 60 votes needed to advance the Buffett Rule minimum-tax plan. Still, Democrats plan to use the vote in campaign ads targeted at Republicans in some congressional races.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-16/votes-aimed-to-embarrass-opponents-fill-congress-calendar.html

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3 replies	Author	Time	Post
Votes Aimed to Embarrass Opponents Fill Congress Calendar (Original post)	Judi Lynn	Apr 2012	OP
Democrats are following a pattern of measures designed to raise taxes for millionaires	AlbertCat	Apr 2012	#1
Good	Andy823	Apr 2012	#2
Great! Voters need to be informed truthfully, about their Congressman's votes either way.	vkkv	Apr 2012	#3

Response to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Mon Apr 16, 2012, 09:07 AM

AlbertCat (10,515 posts)

1. Democrats are following a pattern of measures designed to raise taxes for millionaires

Democrats are following a pattern of measures designed to raise taxes for millionaires and end tax breaks for oil companies

Is this more "important" or less than

Republicans have sought votes to speed a Canadian oil pipeline?

I mean, making millionaires and oil companies pay at least some of what they SHOULD to help the country that allows them to even exist is way more important than a pipe full of sludge that will only bring a tiny % of the jobs needed for an energy source that is disappearing....no?

As usual there's this false one -to -one. The Dems are trying to do something, and the Repugs got nothing. But people will think they are equal.

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Response to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Mon Apr 16, 2012, 11:22 AM

Andy823 (4,804 posts)

2. Good

While we all know nothing will get passed, it will however show that democrats are trying to end the special treatment that the rich and corporations, like big oil, have been getting while the rest of the country pretty much gets zip!

Democrats need to show that the only ones who will benefit from the pipeline are once again the big oil companies, not the american people. The oil will be refined and then sent out of the country to the highest bidders. It will NOT lower gas prices in the U.S., only increase profits for the oil companies. Sure republicans are trying to pain this as providing MORE JOBS, but facts show otherwise, and all the jobs they "CLAIM" it will create are far from the actual number of jobs created.

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Response to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Mon Apr 16, 2012, 03:57 PM

vkkv (94 posts)

3. Great! Voters need to be informed truthfully, about their Congressman's votes either way.

Great! Voters need to be informed truthfully, about their Congressman's votes either way.

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