Democrats give up on bipartisan recovery plan.

[denem]

With Republicans promoting a 5% across the board income tax cut, and reducing corporate taxes by 10%, house Democrats have changed tack. The $3000 new hire tax credit and other tax incentives have been axed. Speaker Pelosi says that the proportion of tax cuts in the Democratic bill will be reduced from 40% to 33%.

Obama's bipartisan hopes for stimulus plan fade is economic stimulus package is expected to pass, but with party differences apparently irreconcilable, it is unlikely to win the 80-vote Senate majority he envisions.

January 15, 2009. Reporting from Washington -- President-elect Barack Obama's hopes of scoring significant bipartisan support for his stimulus package are fading, as the debate over the nearly $800-billion plan morphs into a classic Washington impasse: two rival parties in irreconcilable conflict.

Obama had hoped to induce Republicans to back his plan by putting forward a series of business tax cuts. But GOP support is peeling off as the party crafts alternative ideas that rely even more heavily on tax reductions.

House Republican leaders have set up a working group to draft their own stimulus proposal focusing on permanent, across-the-board tax relief. And the Republican Study Committee, a group of about 100 conservative House Republicans, unveiled a bill Wednesday that contains a series of tax cuts, including reducing all personal income tax rates by 5% and cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-obama-stimulus15-2009jan15,0,3980514.story

As I said in LBN, I hope the House Republicans stick to their guns, consolidating the Republican Brand to the bitter end.

[Uzybone]

1. "I hope the House Republicans stick to their guns"

Hear hear. I hope the media and Dems in Congress does not let them off the hook for once again jabbing the American people in the eye.

[acmavm]

2. Yeah, well I wonder if 'giving up' will 'end up' like it has historically with

the Republicans getting their way and the dems folding like a bad suit.

[Enrique]

3. the real conflicts are within the dems

if we want to talk about caving and folding, you'd have to say Obama caved on the business tax credits. Congressional dems will cave on other things. It's called compromise.

[acmavm]

4. No. It was part of what made Obama the candidate for 'change'.

Turns out its gonna be nothing but small change.

[Cha]

7. You don't know how much change

coming but I choose to be optimistic about it.

[blue_onyx]

5. Good...tax cuts shouldn't be the focus

I think we should focus the stimulus on infrastructure, energy, transportation, and creating jobs ASAP. It shouldn't be surprising that the GOP isn't being cooperative. Why are Obama and the Dems so focused on bipartisanship? When the GOP wins, they do whatever they want but when the Dems win, they have to be bipartisan. Doesn't really make sense.

[Zynx]

10. They weren't anyway. Infrastructure was the bulk of the bill before. It is just slightly

moreso now.

[AtomicKitten]

6. The GOP isn't interested in being a part of the solution, just creating the problem.

I'm fine with this because it was just a matter of time.

Yielding to more GOP-backed tax cuts was never a good idea.

[sampsonblk]

8. Get a decent plan and ram it through

All the ideas on the table so far are primarily garbage. The Dem leadership should try to settle on a decent, responsible plan that makes sense to most people, and they should just pass the damn thing.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. Which basically was the plan all along, Obama handled this one brilliantly

He positioned himself to the right of Congressional Democrats in order to appear bipartisan knowing full well that the GOP wasn't going to play ball. Now Pelosi and Reid want fewer tax cuts which means that they will have to deliver the votes, so Obama doesn't have to expend any political capital doing it himself.