In Tax Deal with GOP, Obama Didn’t Win as Many Concessions as Advertised

[Donnachaidh]

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/12/10/in-tax-deal-with-gop-obama-didnt-win-as-many-concessions-as-advertised/

President Obama seems remarkably proud of himself for the many “concessions” he won from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as part of their deal to extend all the Bush tax cuts for two years. The administration has really tried to spin the “success” of this deal by claiming Obama got $238 billion in spending while the Republicans got only $114 billion of spending on what they want. Yet, it seems almost all of the “concessions” Obama claims to have won were ideas actually promoted by Republicans. The amount of money allocated for things Obama wanted that didn’t have bipartisan support is much smaller.

:snip chart:

In his press conference, Obama highlighted major “concessions” from Republicans that don’t appear to be real concessions at all:

I’ll cite three of them. Number one, if you are a parent trying to raise your child or pay college tuition, you will continue to see tax breaks next year. Second, if you’re a small business looking to invest and grow, you’ll have a tax cut next year. Third, as a result of this agreement, we will cut payroll taxes in 2011, which will add about $1,000 to the take-home pay of a typical family. <...>

And, as I said, there are a whole bunch of things that they are giving up. I mean, the truth of the matter is, from the Republican perspective, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the college tuition tax credit, the Child Tax Credit — all those things that are so important for so many families across the country — those are things they really opposed.

Payroll Tax Cut – There is little reason to believe Republicans would not have supported this as a stand alone bill. A payroll tax cut was an idea McConnell supported last year along with the conservative American Enterprise Institute. This accounts for half, $112 billion, of the spending the Obama apparently “got” from the Republicans.

Child Tax Credit – Rachel Maddow noted that extending the Child Tax Credit was part of the Republican “Pledge to America.” In 2008, John McCain campaigned on doubling the child tax credit. Including this in the tax dea is not a concession, that is helping Congressional Republicans fulfill their promise.

More at the link ---

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Considering the source of the "ad", that is not surprising.

It used to be the repukes that were screwing us..now it is Democrats also.

[somone]

2. Spinning capitulation into victory

not gonna work, though.

[katnapped]

3. Shocking!

Very few of us could've predicted! :sarcasm:

Oh, right....

[BzaDem]

4. Of COURSE Republicans would have opposed all of that as a standalone bill. Why? One reason.

It would help the economy, which would help Obama be re-elected.

That's it. There's nothing else to it. They would not vote for ANYTHING standalone to help the economy. The only reason they are voting for this is because they really, really, really really want to help the rich. They would even help improve Obama's chances of being re-elected in exchange for those tax cuts for the rich. But they wouldn't otherwise.

[subterranean]

5. The payroll tax cut was also proposed by Simpson & Bowles

which I don't understand because it adds to the deficit. Weren't they supposed to be proposing ideas to cut the deficit?