Boehner And The Republicans Amp Up The Class War Against Working Families

Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who represents a gated golfing community just north of Cincinnati, says he's not an economist and that he doesn't know what the impact of the Republicans' decision to cut off unemployment benefits just before Christmas will have on the economy. Nor does he seem to care. I would guess that no one in his gated golfing community has been thrown out of work by corporate trade policies or by the Republican agenda to redistribute the nation's wealth upward. And after the complete lack of support by the DCCC and the DNC for Justin Coussoule in his race against Boehner last year, there is no Democrat running against him-- at least not so far-- in 2012. A deranged anti-Choice fanatic, David Lewis, claims to be running a primary against Boehner, although he seems basically as committed to the interests of the 1% as Boehner is.

Boehner got into the conversation because Thursday night every single Republican in the Senate, with the lone exception of Susan Collins (who typically plays a kind of a Trojan Horse roll when Democratic legislation has to be watered down from inside) voted to protect the top 0.2 percent of taxpayers-- a mere 345,532 multimillionaires-- from paying a pathetically small surtax on their income over a million dollars in order to extend and expand the payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans. People are starting to get the idea that the Republican Party is on the wrong side... again.

This is how President Obama summed it up Thursday, right after the vote:

Tonight, Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. They voted against a bill that would have not only extended the $1,000 tax cut for a typical family, but expanded that tax cut to put an extra $1,500 in their pockets next year, and given nearly six million small business owners new incentives to expand and hire. That is unacceptable. It makes absolutely no sense to raise taxes on the middle class at a time when so many are still trying to get back on their feet.
 
Now is not the time to put the economy and the security of the middle class at risk. Now is the time to rebuild an economy where hard work and responsibility pay off, and everybody has a chance to succeed. Now is the time to put country before party and work together on behalf of the American people. And I will continue to urge Congress to stop playing politics with the security of millions of American families and small business owners and get this done.

I don't always agree with Obama but he was right on target with this one. Senate Republicans want to raise taxes on the middle class and protect their wealthy donors; that was clear from the vote Thursday night. Boehner and Cantor are determined to prevent an extension in unemployment benefits. Yesterday Greg Sargent pointed out in the Washington Post that many Republicans oppose any payroll tax cut extension-- not just taxing the multimillionaires to pay for one. Only 20 of them even supported the GOP version! So the Senate will force them to vote on it again next week.

[B]y voting against their own proposal, Republicans may have further boxed in those GOP Senators who eventually want to vote Yes on the extension. Before, they could vote No on the Dem plan and excuse it by saying the GOP had an alternative. Earlier this week, Mitch McConnell suggested that a majority of Republicans would back that alternative. Now that this didn’t happen, Dems are hoping, it will be harder for Republicans to explain any continued opposition and will weaken their position when talks over the next version begin.

“By showing that they couldn’t even keep their own caucus together on their own proposal, they have frittered away their leverage in negotiations,” the Dem aide says.

Now, Dems are hoping that those GOPers who want to find a way to back the extension will feel even more pressure to do so when a modified version is voted on next week.

As for Boehner, over in the House, he's got the Republicans passing a series of devastating anti-regulation bills (as we saw this morning) and this cockamamie H.R. 3094, the ineptly-named Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act, a virulently anti-union bill which passed 235-188 on Wednesday. Only 6 of the most reactionary Blue Dogs voted with the GOP on it-- John Barrow (GA), Dan Boren (OK), Jim Cooper (TN), Henry Cuellar (TX), Mike McIntyre (NC) and Jim Matheson (UT). Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), co-chairs of the Progressive Caucus, explained why the Caucus is opposing this latest thrust in the GOP class war against the 99%.

“There is a jobs crisis in America, and Congressional Republicans are intent on making it worse by cutting millions of good jobs and stripping away the freedoms of working people. Today’s Republican scheme to weaken America’s middle class would undermine and delay workers’ ability to exercise their right to form a union. H.R. 3094 even attacks the freedom of individuals to choose the co-workers they want to join with.
 
“Americans join unions because it’s smart to be united when negotiating for fair pay and decent benefits. That’s how we got the 40-hour work week, family and medical leave, and safe workplaces. It’s not the government’s job to make it harder for people to earn a living and support their families.
 
“Today’s vote had nothing to do with what the American people want or need. Congress’ number one priority should be creating jobs and strengthening the American middle class, not taking away their rights. Sadly, Washington Republicans voted-- again-- for a government that works for the corporate special interests instead of the American people.
 
“Every day we waste passing another ideological bill is another day the American people struggle to make ends meet. This has to change before we lose an entire generation to unemployment and a dimmer future. We need leaders who put middle-class families before their corporate campaign donors. We need to put America back to work.”

That's the kind of garbage Boehner is up to instead of helping working families through these tough times. But why should he worry? The DCCC has never gone up against him-- and they never will.