House Votes to Extend Middle Class Tax Cuts

At LAT (via Memeorandum):

The House of Representatives has narrowly passed a measure to keep lowered tax rates for individuals earning less than $250,000 a year.

The final vote was 234-188, with 20 Democrats joining a nearly unanimous block of Republicans against the plan.

The vote in Congress' lame-duck session was a symbolic one boosted by Democrats, still in the majority, who sought to force Republicans to vote against a tax cut.

Republicans, who want an extension of the lower rates at all income levels, framed the vote as one that would raise taxes on small-business owners who create jobs.

Ohio Rep. John Boehner, who will take the gavel as speaker in the new Congress, called the Democrats' maneuver "chicken crap."

"We are 23 months from the next election and the political games have already started, trying to set up the next election," he said.

"I really do not believe we have disagreement on what this bill intends to do. It's just that some believe it does not do enough," Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on the House floor shortly before the vote.

The Senate is expected to hold a similar vote this week, though it is less likely to pass because of the threat of a Republican filibuster.

And from Patricia Murphy, "John Boehner Calls Vote on Middle-Class-Only Tax Cut 'Chicken Crap'."