Lame Duck Round-Up

As the semester and Congress draw to a close, here's a look at some of the bills that are going to be brought up in Congress:

1. Tax Cuts:  As I previously mentioned, a tax deal compromise was being sent through Congress.  It's now been passed by both the House and the Senate and is waiting for Obama to sign.  This deal will extend all the tax cuts from the Bush era as well as unemployment benefits.  It will be a huge campaign issue in 2012 since the extension is only for two years.  Ezra Klein has his reaction.

2. DREAM Act: This act would be a huge boost to many immigrant children who were brought at a young age to America and wouldn't be able to survive if they were deported to their "home" country where they have no ties.  This act would allow for children of illegal immigrants to attend college or serve in the military for two years so they could gain citizenship.  It would go a long way to help solve the immigration problem the US is currently facing.

3. Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal:  With a vote set for Saturday on this bill, this would end discrimination against gays and lesbians who want to serve in the military.  Following a report that concluded that including gays and lesbians in the military wouldn't harm readiness or effectiveness, many Senators are ready to vote to repeal this act.  Hopefully the Senators will follow through and vote to end this discriminatory practice.

While that's only some of the bills coming up, time is running out for other initiatives such as the START treaty as well as these bills.  However a lot can still be accomplished over the next week and it will be exciting to see how Congress, especially the Senate votes.

Tax Cuts Again?

While it has yet to be voted on, pending agreement from the House Dems, it looks as if all Bush-era tax cuts will be extended for two years.  For those of you that don't know, back in 2001 and 2003, Bush made tax cuts to all tax brackets and these cuts were set to expire on Dec 31, 2010.  The proposed plan by Democrats, one that was passed by House Dems, would have extended the rates for people making under $250,000 a year but kept the cuts for all other families.  However, the Senate Republicans all pledged to filibuster any new legislation until the tax cuts were extended.  The Senate Democrats had two options, stand strong on their plan to fight the extension for all families, or cave in to the Republican pressure.  Unfortunately, they gave in to let all tax cuts extend.

So the question for this blog is why does this matter for young voters?

• First, this will likely lead to cuts in education in the next year as part of "fixing the deficit".  While restoring the tax rates wouldn't have solved Congress' budget problems, it would have certainly helped, adding $60 billion to next year's budget.  Instead, Congress will have to make cuts and one of the usual go-to moves is cutting education.

• Second, this continues to shift the deficit onto the shoulders of the next generation to take over Congress. Congress does not have an infinite amount of goodwill and eventually, will have to pay back the debt it's accumulated.  Each year of increased spending that goes by is another year further down the road where that spending will have to be made up by painful cuts. 

• Third, this will likely be an election cycle issue as the cuts will expire in two years.  However, in two years, the Democrats won't have the House and will have less Senators then they do now.  Instead of making the cuts under $250,000 permanent and the $250,000+ cuts temporary, all cuts are temporary and will have to be extended.  All the Democrats seem to be doing now, is setting themselves up for failure further down the road.

Paul Krugman proposes another way the Democrats could have handled this situation.

The Washington Post runs down a few of the myths that are talking points of why the cuts should be extended.

Ezra Klein shows how the Democrats failed to capitalize on their momentum.