No Ice Cream for Congress Until They Clean Up Their Mess
Congress has created another self-imposed crisis during the holiday season over the extension of the temporary payroll tax holiday, doc fix, and extended unemployment insurance benefits. They are acting like this is something that snuck up on them and there just isn’t enough time to fix it properly before the end of the year because of the holidays.
Hogwash!
All of Congress and President Obama knew this problem would arrive at the end of this year when they created it last year when they passed one-year extensions of extended unemployment benefits, a doc fix, and created the temporary payroll tax holiday. The expiration was no surprise.
The excuses the Senate uses for avoiding doing their work all year and then offering a sloppy, unworkable compromise are similar to what I heard raising children.
The child’s room is a mess, but the child would like to eat some ice cream. You tell the child that before he can have the ice cream, the room must be clean. You explain to the child that the ice cream is already scooped and on the counter in the kitchen. The child wanders off and plays with toys telling you that the room will eventually be cleaned.
It’s getting late. The child has picked up nothing in the room, but is drooling over the sight of the ice cream. Rather than do the job and clean the room, the child decides to complain to you about how unfair it is to have to clean the room now when it could be cleaned later.
When that doesn’t get the ice cream, the child begins to yell to the neighbors how unfair you are for not allowing ice cream to be given to everyone right now.
Still, no effort has been made to pick up the toys and clean the room.
Well, now the child sees the ice cream melting into soup and screams at you that there is no time left to clean the room. Cleaning the room properly is no longer an option before the ice cream melts. In a huff, the child picks one toy off the floor and throws it on the bed claiming the rest will be picked up and put away properly after the ice cream is eaten.
This is similar to the sloppy mess that was thrown together by the Senate in an effort to get out of town for the holidays. The two-month extension of the temporary payroll tax holiday is unworkable in the real world according to the people who have to implement it.
Term Limits and employment contracts based on meeting KPI’s is the answer.
2000 page bills that no-one reads, sacked, clean out your desk, security will escort you out.
Random acts of wanton idiocy/stupidity/negligence see above.
Repeat until every current member of congress is unemployed.
Two things I never really understood about the current dispute. The first was, if the current legislation is approved for two months and then they decide to extend it for a year, doesn’t that add up to 14 months? I’m no math wiz, but two plus
This was a mistake. Sorry. I hit the wrong key and printed it. See below for full comment.
Two things I never really understood about the current dispute. The first was, if the current legislation is approved for two months and then they decide to extend it for a year, doesn’t that add up to 14 months? I’m no math wiz, but two plus twelve still equal 14, right? So, in reality, it would not be a “one-year” extension, but a 14 month extension, because I can’t really see them coming back and fighting this fight in only 10 months from February. The second thing I don’t get is the Republicans in the House keep passing all of this legislation only to have all of it die in the Senate. Yet it’s the Republicans in the House that are getting the blame for being a “do nothing” Congress, not the Democratically-held Senate. This is even more odd since the Senate has NOT produced a real budget in almost 1,000 days. I guess when you have the media in the tank for you, the Democrats can blame just about anybody for doing nothing and get away with it, especially Obama. The Republicans really need to get some better press agents or spokespeople to get their message across, because all their work in the House is being wasted because of today’s media. Hopefully, with the Internet and Talk Radio, the word will get out that the Conservatives are actually doing something in Congress.
As I understand the situation, the House of Representatives passed a bill some time ago containing a years extention of tax relief and unemployment benefits. Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats, once again, deliberately engineered a train wreck, that would be the two month extension. Of course these courageous souls immediately left town to avoid their duties. No-one in the Lame Scream Media has asked; “WHY JUST TWO MONTHS?” The answer is simple! Crisis is their desired outcome!!! Don’t you realize Democrats believe Americans are stupid! The outcome of the 2008 election would support that position.
Since the GOP desires that the Constitution be adhered to they have no option but to do so.
I wonder why Mr. Morose has chosen to shield the Democrats? By not delineating who was responsible for what up front, he implies that both parties are equally at fault.
We will make sure the American public know the real culprits here, and they are Obama and the Senate Democrats. Amazing that they can blame the House Republicans for the payroll tax debacle, when it was the House Republicans who passed over 15 job-creating bills the past year, and all of these bills went nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate. And it was the House Republicans who were pushing for 12 months of payroll tax versus the irresponsible 2 months only that, amazingly, Obama, Steny Hoyer, Harry Reid and the rest of the Senate Democrats are wanting for this country of ours.
Let’s see — 2 months versus 12 months. Which is better and which “eliminates uncertainty” as Mr. Hoyer himself asked today? I think a 1st grader knows 12 months is more than 2 months.
And isn’t it amazing that the PRO-TAX AND SPEND Democrats and Obama are now fighting hard to extend the payroll tax cut championed by both Republicans and President George W. Bush? America misses the honesty, compassion for all classes and humility of GW Bush. Come 2012, the constantly lying Senate Democrats and Obama will be booted out of Washington once and for all.
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that pretty well sums up my feelings on the matter. It read “Reelect no one”. Let’s get a whole new crop in there and see how they do. 2010 was a good start, let’s see what we can do in 2012.
Doesn’t everyone know that the mechanism to pay for this 2-month payroll tax cut is a new tax on new mortgages?
For a $200,000 mortgage this would be about $15/month, for the life of the mortgage. Meaning that my $40 tax cut cost me $5400
Why is the conservative blogosphere not screaming this from the rooftops?
Are you trying to tell me I might not get to keep an extra thousand dollars of my own money.
I guess it’s time to throw a childish tantrum form my hush money.
@rubicon,
This sounds like the typical Democrat plan: Show a reduction for a short time and increase a tax forever.
The home buyer fee increase is in the House and Senate bill. It is charged to mortgage lenders by Fannie, Freddie and FHA..passed on to the home buyer by one-tenth of one percent. The House bill had some additional provisions concerning dangerous emissions (i.e. more deregulation of harmful substances in the air and earth), and drug testing the unemployed before they could get any money. I personally think we should drug test Congress.