Obama’s Revenue Plans Hit Resistance in Congress

[Chris]

The administration’s central revenue proposal — limiting the value of affluent Americans’ itemized deductions, including the one for charitable giving — fell flat in Congress, leaving the White House, at least for now, without $318 billion that it wants to set aside to help cover uninsured Americans. At the same time, lawmakers of both parties have warned against moving too quickly on a plan to auction carbon emission permits to produce more than $600 billion.

The unwillingness to embrace some of the major White House tax and revenue proposals has frustrated administration officials. They note that lawmakers, many of them supporters of the president’s ambitious agenda, clamor to hold down the deficit while balking at the proposals to finance his program.

As Congress prepares to reconvene after a recess, senior lawmakers and aides say they are only now beginning to confront the lack of new sources of money, especially for moving the nation toward universal health coverage, a goal for which Democrats hope to deliver a plan this year.

Administration officials say they have not given up on pushing at least some elements of their original plans through Congress. Even if they cannot prevail, they say, they can find some new sources of revenue that, along with new efficiencies in care and savings in Medicare and Medicaid, will allow them to forge ahead with the health care plan.

“There are lots of different ways of skinning this cat and making the numbers work,” said Peter R. Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/us/politics/20tax.html?_r=1&hpw

Guess who the cat is.

In short, Obama's Democratic allies embraced providing health care to the uninsured, boosting education and promoting clean energy. But the second part of the equation -- finding billions of dollars to finance his agenda without further exploding the deficit -- suffered repeated setbacks in the Senate.

On health care, the Senate voted 94-3 against lowering the tax benefits available to wealthier people taking advantage of deductions on charitable contributions. Obama wanted to have people in the upper brackets limited to a 28 percent deduction on itemized deductions instead of a maximum rate of 35 percent. That was projected to raise $318 billion over 10 years to pay for health care changes.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/04/05/analysis_congress_backs_some_obama_goals_not_all/

Shocked.  Really.  Guess those cats in Congress wanted to keep their fur.

[miskie]

its obvious to me they are all a bunch of racist cats, since they have denied the will of The One.

[thundley4]

its obvious to me they are all a bunch of racist cats, since they have denied the will of The One.

Not only are they racist, but they must be right wing terrorists for opposing the will of 0Bama.

[Hawkgirl]

Maybe the tea parties are starting to hit home?  And they'd rather go against the Obama rather than forfeit their jobs?  All those politicians are self-serving.

[Chris_]

Maybe the tea parties are starting to hit home?  And they'd rather go against the Obama rather than forfeit their jobs?  All those politicians are self-serving.

If the TEA parties meant anything, I'm hoping it meant that A LOT of their Lordships and Ladyships in their Fortress of Insanity lose their jobs in the mid-term elections - REPUBLICAN and MARXIST alike.