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A REPUBLICAN PLAN to let tax breaks expire on US millionaires collapsed late yesterday when it failed to earn enough party support, leaving talks on averting the ‘fiscal cliff’ up in the air.
House Speaker John Boehner had boasted sufficient support for his “Plan B” to put pressure on President Barack Obama to break the stalemate over how to avoid the tax hikes and mandatory spending cuts set to kick in on 1 January.
But Democrats balked at the initiative, and conservatives opposed to raising taxes on anyone, even the wealthy, revolted. Boehner, who sought to use the vote as leverage in his talks with Obama, was forced to pull back.
Raising taxes
“The House did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass,” Boehner said in a statement late yesterday after calling a brief meeting with his Republican caucus.
“Now it is up to the president to work with Senator (Harry) Reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff,” he added.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said the House of Representatives now stood adjourned until after Christmas.
Boehner must now work with Obama and the Democrats, who control the Senate and could potentially shepherd a bill approved by moderate Republicans through the House, if he hopes to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff.
“Plan B… is a multi-day exercise in futility at a time when we do not have the luxury of exercises in futility,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said hours before the vote in the House.
“It cannot pass the Senate. The president would veto it.”
Defeat
But shortly after Plan B crashed to defeat, Carney put out a more conciliatory statement, saying a “bipartisan solution” was still possible.
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“The president’s main priority is to ensure that taxes don’t go up on 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses in just a few short days,” Carney said.
Obama “will work with Congress to get this done and we are hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly that protects the middle class and our economy.”
Boehner’s plan would have extended George W. Bush-era tax breaks for everyone apart from those earning more than $1 million a year and also redirect automatic spending cuts away from defense to other programs.
Republican leaders sweetened the deal by offering a companion spending cut bill, in a bid to win over deficit hawks who see government spending as the main driver behind the country’s $16 billion debt.
But the White House charged that the bill would offer big tax breaks to wealthy Americans earning less than $1 million who do not need them.
Obama had originally insisted on letting tax cuts expire on households earning more than $250,000, but has since upped the threshold to $400,000 in a bid to reach a compromise.
Boehner’s tactics have mystified many in Washington, with some wondering whether he can sell any deal with Obama to his restive caucus.
The speaker has faced intensifying opposition from conservatives who oppose raising any tax rates, arguing that doing so would slow economic growth.
Democrats saw the failed vote as proof that only a bipartisan deal has any hope of averting the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts.
The White House insists the two sides are not that far apart, and Obama has compromised on Social Security retirement benefits and tax rates in ways that have angered liberal supporters.
@Alan Richard Scott: what’s embarrassing is people calling Ireland backward and when people keep babbling on and on and on about it. Let it go now at this stage.
@JG: but it is embarrassing. I can’t go outside 5KM but yet they allow they people into the country? 64000 people came into this country in the first 16 days of this month alone. It’s Ridiculous. Truth hurts.
@JG: and what’s also embarrassing is if you look at the majority of EU health ministers, nearly all them have MEDICAL degrees or have been a QUALIFIED medical practitioner in the past. A degree in management consulting or international development is a akin to having a medical degree. It’s a joke
@Matt: like I said below we have a health minister who is not qualified for the job. Does not hold any qualifications relating to a medical degree. Neither did his Predecessor.
@JG: if the the cap fits – backwards or forwards. Here Ireland definitely falls in the could do much better much quicker much harder bracket. What’s really embarrassing is the “green jersey” heads like you. Spare a thought for the dying.
@Alan Richard Scott: it’s called essential travel. If you have essential business you can leave your 5km radius or go to Timbuktu via the airport. It’s not like people are coming here to kiss the Blarney Stone.
@Sean Lucas: wha…you think they are all here on essential business, all those thousands of people…can you back that up? Because The Taoiseach was not able to when challenged recently about it. Wakey wakey!
@Hear me now: Not saying people don’t come through. I’m saying it is and should ok if it’s essential. It’s a misdirected directed red herring to blame the lockdowns on the tini tini numbers of travelers coming in from abroad compared to the rest of Europe. Look at big picture and dont be annoyed by the media misdirection and finger pointing. House party, dental trips etc etc. The world deals with this. Fixing our own communities from within, track and trace ran compently, and free testing for anyone regardless of being a close contact or not. These methods utilized by countries who havent been lockdown no where near as much as us. And gurss what, travel is not guarded by cops handing out fines in most countrys not adopting zero covid either.
Last year I flew to and from a mandatory quarantine country for critical works.
I quarantined – but all I got was 2 texts to say I had to quarantined. Nobody checked – nobody cared.
The list is absolutely meaningless.
@Colm Malone: I traveled to belfast with my wife by train last week we were not once questioned about our reason for travelling ( which was legit ) we traveled by public transport the way the train was layed out we weren’t supposed to sit together but did….
@Paul Wylie: that would be the obvious thing to do and anyone with a bit if cop on would knows that, but they’re rich mates wouldn’t be happy with them if they did that. It’s easier for them to keep us ‘little people’ in lockdown with no end in sight than to upset Dennis or Larry
@Paul Wylie: yes and then it will only be a matter of time until we have the “Irish variant”.
There is so much circulating virus in this country, the only way out of it is to innovate.
Use a mix of remote and in person learning to create necessary social distancing for pupils, deploy appropriate testing criteria for schools (do away with the “casual contact” designation for classrooms) and use criteria for toggling class and schools to remote learning for two weeks when needed. Deploy antigen testing in congregate settings.
Use every hospital bed, public or private, to deal with this crisis. It’s unjust that only insured patients can be admitted to non COVID hospitals. Given the sacrifices every citizen is making in this country to deal with this crisis, it’s actually grotesque!
@Paul Wylie: What about the people coming to survive machines, do business that is vital towards are recovery etc. It is not that simply unfortunately. Putting the initial travel that brought the virus in aside, travel is not the reason we have high cases etc.
Misleading title. We don’t have mandatory quarantine and the government voted against it this week. 2000 people entered the country from Brazil in the last 28 days. Only 600 of them turned up for testing and 50 of them tested positive. It would be safe to assume the other 1400 also had a high infection rate. 5500 people arrived here from high risk countries during that same period. The government are being criminally negligent at this stage.
@Barty: Brasil was the only country from South America on the red list yesterday with only Austria from Europe, UAE from Middle East and 17 countries from Africa however that list is still not good enough I’m sorry to say.
We need to extend this to badly hit EU countries, North America and mainland UK soon.
There will always be people who skirt the rules by flying in through Belfast and driving down, but its a small fraction of the people arriving that do that.
@David Duffy: Personally I would had UK #1. Followed by Portugal then Spain with North America and that’s the 3 Canada, US and Mexico next. Can the Europeans come to fish our waters that no matter which countries they are from needs to be a No No.
@David Duffy: mainland UK are in a better position than us . Plus they have 20% of their population of circa 67 million vaccinated whereas we have 5% of our 5 million vaccinated
@Lisa Malone: UK vaccinated numbers is lower than what was published this came out yesterday. Also there 2nd jab is not going to plan less than 2% has got it and remember they started in December 2020 reason is not enough vaccine to go around and its a huge problem
@Thomas Armstrong: If the virus is here the is no need to ban countries. Only logical reason is new strains. UK one is out one at this stage. USA strain is actually less contagious than ours. Would be kinda silly in my opinion
And what if they don’t quarantine what do they get? A scolding from Stephen Donnelly perhaps? Are there any checks in place to ensure this is being adhered to?
@Dr Quirkey: US Military fly into Shannon daily. They have a base there. They can walk into Shannon Town without a worry may even go down the road to Limerick or go up to Ennis. That’s Home Isolation
Just for example Namibia: 7 day incidence 60. Ireland 97.
Germany last week downgraded Namibia from high incidence to normal incidence country hence no need for pcr test or quarantine upon return.
Where is the Irish logic?? All pure activism if you ask me
What about the border. This legislation is a complete waste of time because the brits will be opening up travel in a few weeks with their vaccine passports so it will be impossible to keep new variants from getting into the south
@Declan Doherty: not saying it’s a reason to do nothing but unless Northern Ireland are going to quarantine every incoming person including mainland UK for two weeks in a hotel then us doing it is not going to make any difference
@Michael Hanley: I don’t agree and you are using the north to justify doing nothing. The numbers arriving through our airports speak for themselves. Mandatory quarantine would make significant difference and NI is not a good reason to do nothing.
@Declan Doherty: We have the worst performing airports in Europe (bottom three consistently.) Personally I believe this is just a red herring. Making very little odds and is just there to try to look like they are doing something. Fixing track and trace would be far more beneficial than the hotel nonsense
Why can’t we follow the New Zealand. We are an Island too. Just shut it down and be done with it once and for all. Also with Clergy asking for churches to be opened for Easter Services, they are safe places …. lads must be missing the Christmas dues and Sunday
Collections!!!
@Margaret O Neill: if we did that last year maybe. They will have a hard time unsealing. If we did that we would literally be doing the worst of both worlds in my opinion.
@Sean Lucas: I think we are doing the worst of both worlds right now tbh. All of the lockdown with none of the benefits. At least a harder lockdown and mandatory quarantine would put focus squarely on the individual here to do their part and not from abroad.
@Paul Cunningham: For personal reasons I would not like zero covid. For logical (in my eyes) it’s also near the end and fighting for zero covid could drag this out a lot longer. However, I do agree with you that these rolling lockdowns are the worst of both worlds. I supported a zero covid strategy last year even though it would of hurt my industry. However, I don’t think it’s the way to go entering the later portion of the crisis. Unless most of the world opted for this approach it would cut us off and make it extremely difficult to unseal.
@Marguerite Hoiby: UK strain is here. US strain less contagious than ours. Would back no sense to put either country on the list. Also both vital trading partners and employers in Ireland.
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