–House Dem Leaders Set Vote On Extending Middle Class Bush Tax Cuts
–House GOP Leader Boehner: Vote ‘Does Undercut’ Bipartisan Tax Talks
–Rep. Boehner: House Dems Are ‘Playing Games’ With Thursday Tax Vote

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The House is expected to vote Thursday on a $1.5
trillion tax-cut package that extends the middle class portions of the
Bush era tax cuts and includes an adjustment to the alternative minimum
tax.

The House vote is expected to be held in the early afternoon.

The House bill would make permanent the tax cuts on income under
$200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples.

It would also include lower tax rates for capital gains and
dividends and eliminate the marriage penalty and expand the child
credit. The package would extend through 2011 an expired adjustment to
the AMT that shields thousands of taxpayers from the AMT.

Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated the package
would cost $1.5 trillion over a decade, with $1.3 trillion due to the
extension of the middle class tax cuts.

At a briefing Wednesday evening, House Republican Leader John
Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell blasted House
Democrats for scheduling a tax vote that they derided as little more
than a political stunt.

“It does undercut,” the bipartisan negotiations on extending the
Bush era tax cuts,” Boehner said.

He accused Democrats of “playing games” by scheduling the
Thursday vote.

“It’s not going anywhere,” McConnell said, adding that talks
between the White House and Congress are focusing on extending all of
the Bush era tax cuts.

The only issue, McConnell said, is “just how long that extension
will be.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Wednesday the House vote
“should not undermine” the negotiations that have just begun between
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, White House budget director Jack Lew
and four congressional negotiators. The four congressional negotiators
are Democratic senator Max Baucus, Republican senator Jon Kyl,
Democratic congressman Chris Van Hollen and Republican congressman Dave
Camp.

Hoyer said the House vote is not designed to put Republicans in a
“difficult place” but to express the views of the Democratic majority
that controls the House for the rest of this year.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MFU$$$,MCU$$$]