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What's stopping them from forging their own way, if they're actually able? It makes no sense for them to be posturing like the compromise forged by the President came out of the blue. Like he said today, he urged them to bring the matter up for a vote before the election.
If they have a solution, or a better compromise, they'd better get on with it. From their universal silence after their failed votes in the Senate - and before the President's announcement - it was as if they were just waiting for the President to hang himself before they swooped in to criticize. That's not leadership, it's just cynical politics.
Congress has no credibility on the repeal of the upper-income tax cuts. If they are so opposed to extending the Bush cuts, they should either step out of the way and refuse to advance the President's compromise for a vote, or, vote against it if it comes up.
All of the posturing because the President stepped ahead of them and acted to rescue the middle-class portion of the Bush tax cuts ignores their own failure (for whatever reason) to decouple the good cuts from the bad. They are responsible for allowing the 'test' votes to be pushed back to a month before the expiration deadline.
Nothing is stopping House Democrats or Senate Democrats from forging their own coalitions behind whatever they actually support. I'd be surprised, though, to see a majority allow the expiration date to happen because of their vote. The real hypocrisy will come from the ones who took pot shots at the President but end up voting for his compromise anyway.
The debate over the President's agreement looks like a free-for-all in Congress right now. History has shown that Democrats usually rally to advance leader-organized legislation. But, it's not clear that whatever changes (if any) are made in either body will easily reconcile with one another. That's the next challenge; getting the House and Senate to agree. They'd better get on with resolving that.
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