The extension of the Bush tax cuts is likely to become a campaign issue in the November elections, and that could push lawmakers to take sides ahead of time.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked on Sunday by Christiane Amanpour, the new host of ABCs This Week, about whether she would be able to get a vote on extending the Bush tax cuts before the November midterm elections. Although she needed to be prodded a bit before giving a direct answer, Pelosi eventually responded, It would be my hope.
Pelosi also took aim at those who want the tax cuts to be extended for upper-income taxpayers making more than $250,000 a year. I dont see any reason why we should renew a tax cut that only gives a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America, increases the deficit, and doesnt create jobs, she said. That doesnt make any sense.
On one of the other Sunday morning talk shows, Meet the Press, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan went even further and said that all the Bush tax cuts should just be allowed to expire, no matter what the income range. Im very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money, he said. And the problem that weve come to in recent years is spending programs are funded with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day, that proves disastrous. And he was the one running the Fed in 2001 and 2003 when those tax cuts first got passed.
Expect to hear a lot more debate about the tax cuts, if not a whole lot of agreement, in the months ahead. Stay tuned.
